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U. AffLt. 1 UIS & LU., PUBLISHERS, 

549 & 551 Broadway, New York. 



LOCKYER'S ASTRONOMY. 

ELEMENTS OF ASTRONOMY: 

Accompanied with numerous Illustrations, a Colored Repre- 
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D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers, 

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ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 



REV. RICHARD MORRIS, M.A., LL.D., 

PRESIDENT OF THE PHILOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 

Author of " Historical Outlines of English Accidefice," "Elementary 
Lessons in Historical English Grammar," &>c. 



NEW YORK: 
APPLETON AND COMPANY, 

549 and 551 Broadway. 

1877. 



1ST! 



qlj 



•*<.4ift 
Mrs.' Ad a Spinks 
16 1934 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Relation of English to other Languages * . . , I 

Grammar and its Divisions ...... 7 

Sounds and Letters 8 

Alphabet . . . io 



CHAPTER II. 

Parts of Speech 12 

On Parsing 14 

On Changes that Words undergo .., . • . . 15 



CHAPTER III. 

Nouns t • 17 

Gender . lS 

Number 21 

Case 24 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

PACK 

Adjectives 28 

Comparison 29 

CHAPTER V. 

Pronouns 32 

Personal 33 

Demonstrative 36 

Interrogative 36 

Relative 37 

Indefinite 39 

CHAPTER VI. 

Verbs 41 

Voice 42 

Mood 43 

Tense 46 

Strong and Weak Verbs 49 

Classification of Strong Verbs 50 

,, ,, Weak Verbs 54 

Alphabetical List of Strong Verbs 58 

,, ,, some Anomalous Wer.k Verbs . . 62 

Anomalous Verbs 65 

Be 65 

Can 66 

Will 67 

Owe, Dare 68 

Have, Do 69 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VII. 

PAGE 

Adverbs 74 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Prepositions • . 76 

CHAPTER IX. 

Conjunctions • • » • 78 

CHAPTER X. 

Interjections . . . . . . . . • 79 

CHAPTER XI. 

Word Making So 

English Suffixes 81 

Compounds 83 

Latin and French Suffixes 85 

Greek Suffixes 88 

Latin and French Prefixes .88 

Greek Prefixes 90 

CHAPTER XII. 

Syntax . . • . . . . • • • 93 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

PACK 

Analysis of Sentences , . ioi 



Model of Grammatical Parsing 



PRIMER 

OF 

ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

Relation of English to other Languages. 

§ i. Every language has a history of its own, and it 
may be made to tell us its own life, so to speak, if we 
set the right way to work about it. 

There are two ways of getting at this history. The 
first mode is by comparing one language with others 
that are well known to us. The second is by study- 
ing the literature of a language in order of time, or 
chronologically, beginning with the very oldest written 
books, and coming down to the latest and newest. 

The first or comparative method is one that you 
have no doubt tried yourselves upon a small scale, 
when you have noticed how closely our word house 
resembles the German haus, or English thou hast the 
German du hast. You may have asked yourselves, 
too, whether this likeness in words and in grammar 
proves that one of the languages is borrowed from the 



2 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 

other, as some have innocently supposed, or whether 
both have come from one parent, and are, so to speak, 
brothers or sisters. 

But the English are quite as ancient a people as the 
Germans, and their language is as old if not older 
than German, so that it would be decidedly wrong to 
infer that the one language came from or was bor- 
rowed from the other. So we are obliged to admit 
that English and German are akin, or related to each 
other, by having descended from a common parent. 

§ 2. Scholars have carried out this comparison with 
a large number of languages, and have shown us that 
English is related, not only to German, but more 
closely to Dutch, Danish, and more remotely to 
Welsh, Latin, Greek, Russian, Persian, Hindi, &>c. 

They have called these kindred tongues the Indo- 
European family of languages. 

They have grouped together, too, those languages 
that most resemble one another. 

The chief groups in Europe are — 

(i) Keltic, containing the Welsh, Irish, Gaelic, Manx, and 
Armorican languages. 

(2) Romanic or Italic, containing Latin and the dialects 

sprung from Latin, called the Romance languages 
(Italian, French, Spanish, and Portuguese, &c). 

(3) Hellenic or Grecian, containing Ancient and Modern 

Greek. 

(4) Slavonic, containing the Russian, Polish, and Bohe- 

mian languages. 



I.] FAMILIES OF LANGUAGES. 3 

(5) Teutonic, containing {a) English, Dutch, Flemish. 

(b) Icelandic, Swedish, Danish, 

Norwegian. 

(c) Modern German. 

§ 3. They have proved — 

(1) That our language belongs to a group 

called Teutonic. 

(2) That English is most like Dutch, Frisian, 

and Flemish. These, including English, are 
called Low-German languages, because 
they were spoken originally along the low- 
lying shores of the German Ocean and Baltic 
Sea. 

(3) That our language closely resembles Icelandic, 

Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish, called 
Scandinavian languages. 

(4) That it is also, as we have seen, much like 

the modern German language which was at 
first spoken only in the highlands of Central 
and Southern Germany, and hence called 
High-German. 

§ 4. History confirms the story told us by those 
who have studied languages in the way we have 
spoken of, for we know that the first Englishmen, 
the Angles, came from the land of the Low Ger- 
mans on the continent, and settled in Britain during 
the fifth century. England means " the land of the 
Angles." We know, too, that there were other Low- 
German tribes that came along with them, and spoke 



4 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 

the same language. The Saxons were the most im- 
portant of these, and have left their names in their 
old settlements of Sussex, Wessex, Essex, and Mid- 
dlesex. 

§ 5. The second mode of arriving at the history of 
a language by means of its literature is called the 
historical method. We have a very long and complete 
series of English works, written at different periods, 
and going as far back as the ninth century (to the 
time of Alfred). From these written documents of 
the language we learn — 

(1) How English has changed from time to time, 

and how many important events in the 
history of the English people are bound up 
with the changes that have taken place in 
the English language. 

(2) That we have gradually lost a large number 

of grammatical endings or inflexions, which 
we have replaced by using distinct words 
for them, instead of adopting new endings. 

At one time we could translate Lat. "bib-^r<?" by " drinc-a?*," 
but now by to drink. 

(3) That though we have lost very many of our 

old English words, and have replaced them 
by others of foreign origin, yet all the most 
common and useful words, as well as all our 
grammar, is thoroughly English, and is not 
borrowed. 



I.] FAMILIES OF LANGUAGES. 5 

(4) That we have greatly added to our stock of 
words from various sources, of which the 
following are the most important : — 

1. Keltic words. We have a few words (crag, 
glen, pool, mattock, &>c.) which the old English settlers 
took from the Keltic inhabitants of Britain, just as dur 
countrymen in America still retain a few words 
borrowed from the native Indian tribes that once 
peopled that continent. 

2. Scandinavian words. The Danish Invasion 
introduced some few Scandinavian words, as busk, 
dairy, fellow, fro, gait, ill, same, till, a7'e, &c. 

3. Latin words. The bulk of our borrowed 
words are, however, of Latin origin, and came into 

the language at different times : — 

L The old English invaders adopted the names 
which the Romans had left behind in Britain 
for a fortified station (castra), a paved road 
(strata), and a rampart (vallum), which we 
still retain in Ma.n-chester, Don-caster, &c. ; 
street and wall. 

ii. The Roman priests and monks, who brought 
Christianity to our forefathers in the sixth 
century, introduced some Latin words be- 
longing to religion, worship, &c, as bishop, 
priest, monk, mass, minister, &c, as well as 
the names of a few things they brought with 
them : — butter, cheese, pease, pepper, &c. 
2 



6 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 

iil The Norman Conquest in 1066 was the means, 
through French, of introducing fresh Latin 
words much altered from their original form, 
as caitiff, frail, feat (cp. captive, fragile, fact). 

iv. Through the Revival of Learning* the 
Latin language became familiar to educated 
men, and English writers introduced into 
the language very many Latin words with 
very little change of form. Hence we are 
able to distinguish between the French Latin 
and the later Latin words : thus poor, poison, 
come through Norman-French, while pauper, 
potion, come straight from the Latin, and are 
due to English writers. 

4. Greek words. We have also borrowed 
many scientific and philosophical words from the 
Greek language, as archceology, botany, physics, ethics, 
music, &c. 

5. Miscellaneous words. There are miscel- 
laneous words from numerous other languages. Our 
word tea is Chinese ; canoe is American-Indian ; yacht 
is Dutch j and cypher is Arabic, &c. 



* This took place in the sixteenth century. 



I.] GRAMMAR AND ITS DIVISIONS. 



GRAMMAR AND ITS DIVISIONS. 

§ 6. Language is made up of words. 

Grammar tells us about the words that make up 
a language : — 

i. If we examine a word as we hear it, we find 
that it consists of one or more sounds. 
These sounds are represented to the eye 
by written signs called letters. 

ii. Words may be put into classes, or classified 
according to their distinctive uses. Words 
sometimes undergo change when combined 
with other words, or when they have some- 
thing added to them to form new words. 

iii. Words are combined according to certain 
laws. 

Hence Grammar deals with the following subjects : 
(i) Sounds and Letters : (Orthography.) 

(2) Classification, inflexion, and derivation : 

(Etymology.) 

(3) The relation of words in a sentence, and 
the relation of sentences to each other : 
(Syntax.) 



8 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 

ORTHOGRAPHY. 

I. Sounds and Letters. 

§ 7. All sounds are not produced exactly in the 
same way. Some sounds are produced by means of 
the tongue and cavity of the mouth, which modify the 
breath before it passes into the air, as a in father, i in 
machine, 00 in fool, &c. These simple sounds are 
called vowels. 

Vowels were so called because they made distinct voices or 
utterances and formed syllables by themselves. (Fr. voyelle, Lat. 
vocalis. ) Two vowels sometimes unite to form a Diphthong, as 
oi in boil, ai in aisle, &c 

§ 8. Other sounds are produced by the direct means 
of the lips, teeth, &c, which are called the organs of 
speech. These sounds are called consonants, as 
b, d, &c. 

Lip-soxmds are called Labials ; teeth-sounds Dentals; throat- 
sounds Gutturals ; hissing-sounds Sibilants. 

Consonants (Lat. consonare, to sound along with) were so called 
because they could not make a distinct syllable without being 
sounded along with a vowel. 

Some consonant sounds seem to have a little breath 
attached to them and may be prolonged. Such sounds 
are called spirants (Lat spirare, to breathe), as f 
th, &c. 

The other consonants, in sounding which the breath 
seems stopped, are called mutes or dumb sounds. 

Of the mutes and spirants some seem to have a 
flat sound, and others a sharp sound, as : — 
b (flat) p (sharp) : z (flat) s (sharp) 



SOUNDS AND LETTERS. 



I. — Consonant Sounds. 



MUTES. 


SPIRANTS. 




Flat 


Sharp. 


Nasal. 


Flat. 


Sharp. 


Trilled 


Gutturals 


G 

hard 


K 


NG 




H 




Palatals . 


J 


Ch 

(soft) 






Y 




Palatal . 

Sibilants 


I 






Zh 

(azure) 


Sh 
(sure) 


R 


Dental . 

Sibilants 


! 






Z 

(prize) 


S 

(mouse) 


L 


Dentals . 


D 


T 


N 


(bathe) 


Th 

(bath) 




Labials . 


B 


P 


M 


V 
W (witch) 


F 

Wh (which) 


... 



II. — Vowel Sounds. 



a in gnat 
a in pair. 
a in fame. 
a in all. 
a in want. 
e in met. 
e in meet. 



/ in knit. 

o in not. 

o in note. 

oo in fool, rude. 

oo in wood, put 

u in nut. 



PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 



III. — Diphthongs. 



* in high. 
ai in aisle. 
oi in boil. 



ou in how, bound. 
ew in mew. 



The pupil must not confound the sound with the name of the 
letter; "be" is only the name of the sign b, not the sound it 
represents. 

The Alphabet. 

§ 9. An Alphabet is a collection of written signs 
called letters. 

The word Alphabet is derived from Alpha, Beta, the names of 
the first two letters of the Greek alphabet. An old name for 
our collection of letters was ABC. 

There ought to be as many letters in a perfect alphabet 
as there are sounds in the language. We have forty- 
three sounds, which ought to be represented by forty- 
three letters. Our alphabet is very imperfect, for it 
consists of only twenty-six letters. Three of these 
(c, q, x) are not wanted, so that we have really only 
twenty-three useful letters. 

(1) One letter has to stand for more than one sound, as s in 
Seas ; ch in church, machine, chemistry ; g in girl and gin. 
(see a, p. 9.) 

(2) The same sound is represented by different signs ; as o in 
note, boat, toe, crow, &c. 

(3) There are many silent letters, as in psalm, gnat, \Lncrw, 
calf. 

(4) c, q, x, are called redundant letters : C may be represented 
by s or i, q by kw , and x by ks. 



I.] SOUNDS AND LETTERS. n 

§ 10. Occasional Change of Sound in English. 

Consonants are sometimes combined. If they are 
unlike, one of them assimilates , or becomes like the 
other. Thus, if the first is a sharp sound, the second, 
if flat, will become sharp ; as weeped, wept. 

Aflat consonant must be followed by a flat conso- 
nant, and a sharp consonant by a sharp one j as, 

I. — (i) slabs, pronounced slabz. 

(2) bathes „ bathz. 

(3) hugged „ hugd. 
lagged „ lagd. 

II. — (1) slap-s. 

(2) bath-s (gives a bath). 

(3) sleeped pronounced slept, 
lacked „ lackt. 

The original sound of s was sharp, as in mouse. 
(See Plurals of Nouns, § 22, p. 21.) 



PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 



CHAPTER II. 

ETYMOLOGY. 

PARTS OF SPEECH. 

§ ii. Words are arranged in different Classes, 
according to their use in a sentence. 

i. Words used as names are called Nouns ; as, 
John saw a snake in the garden. 

2. Words used for Nouns are called Pronouns ; 
as, / told John the snake would not hurt him or me, 
if he left it alone, to go its own way. 

3. Words used with Nouns to distinguish or de- 
scribe the thing named are called Adjectives; as, 
TJie humble-bees are known by their large size and 
hairy bodies, often of a black colour with orange bands. 

Adjectives serve to modify the meaning of the noun to which 
they relate. They may easily be found out by asking, " Of 
what S07't ?" " How many ?" " Which ?" 

4. Words used for stating what anything does or is 
do?ie to, are called Verbs ; as, One day John saw a 
rat come out of a hole ; he found it was hurt and 
could not rim fast. 



II.] PARTS OF SPEECH. 13 

5. Words used with Verbs to mark the when, where, 
and how of what is done, are called Adverbs ; as, 

The lark soars aloft, and always sing's sweetly. 

_ Adverbs maybe used with Adjectives and other Adverbs 
to mark how, how much, how often, &c. ; as, My father is 
quite well ; he is very seldom ill j he does not like to take too 
much medicine. 

6. Words used with Nouns (or Pronouns) to join 
them to verbs, adjectives, and other nouns, are called 
Prepositions ; as, On Monday last, early in the 
morning, as John was walking along the side of the 
river, he saw a snake of a large size, which he 
killed by striking it with his whip. 

Prepositions join words together to show their bearing to 
one another ; as, side — river ; side of the river. 

The noun or pronoun with the preposition depends upon the 
word to which it is joined ; as, in " a man of wisdom" ii of wisdom" 
depends on " man." 

The preposition with its noun is mostly of the same value as 
an adjective or an adverb. Thus : " a man of wisdom "= "a wise 
man" (adj.) ; "he came on sAore" '="he came ashore" (adv.). 

Some prepositions cannot well be separated from the words 
which they come before ; as, a-loft, in vain, at last, in deed. 
We must parse these compounds as adverbs. (See 5 above.) 

7. Words used to join sentences together are called 
Conjunctions ; as, Birds fly and fish swim, but 
worms creep along the ground, for they have no 
power to do otherwise or else they would. 

8. Words used to express a sudden feeling are 
called Interjections. They might be called Ex- 
clamations ; as, Oh! Alas I 



14 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 

There are, as we have seen, eight Parts of 
Speech : — 

i. Noun. 5. Adverb. 

2. Pronoun. 6. Preposition. 

3. Adjective. 7. Conjunction. 

4. Verb. 8. Interjection. 

On Parsing. 

§ 12. When we tell to what class or part of speech 
a word belongs, we are said to parse it. 

We must bear in mind that we cannot do this off- 
hand, by merely looking at a word. We must ask 
ourselves what duty it is doing in the sentence to which 
it belongs, before we can parse it accurately. 

The same word may be a noun in one part of a 
sentence, an adjective in another, a verb in a third, 
and so on ; as, John exchanged his silver watch for a 
lump of silver, with which he meant to silver some 
metal coins. The first "silver" is an adjective, the 
second a noun, and the third a verb. 

Cp. " I cannot second you in trying to get the second place 
on the list without thinking a second or two. about it." 

11 1 learnt all my lessons but one, but that was very hard ; had 
I had but more time I could have learnt it very well." 

The first but = except, is a preposition ; the second joins two 
sentences, and is therefore a conjunction : the third = only, is an 
adverb. 

The word that may be an adjective, a pronoun, or a conjunction. 
"John said that that word that he had just parsed was a 
pronoun." 



ii.] CHANGES OF WORDS. 15 

As may be an adverb, a conjunction, or a pronoun. "Iamiw 
wise as my elder brother, who has had the same teaching as I 
have had." 

It must be recollected that some pronouns can be used as 
adjectives ; as, "That's the boy that took that splendid book of 
yours off your table." 

Many words that are often used as adverbs may be used as 
conjunctions. "Now all is ready, come now, and don't delay. 
a moment." "John was so naughty yesterday, he would climb 
about, so he fell down." 

On Changes that Words undergo. 

§ 13. Some words alter their form to express a 
change of meaning; thus, child becomes (1) children, 
to show that more than one is meant ; (2) child' s 7 to 
show that something is possessed by a child. 

" We sleep" becomes " we slept" to show that the 
action of sleeping is not now going on, but took place 
in some time gone by or past. 

All the Parts of Speech do not undergo a 
change of form, only the Noun, Pronoun, Adjec- 
tive, Verb, and some few Adverbs. 

These changes, called inflexions, are mostly brought 
about by putting some additional letter or syllable to 
the end of a word. These additions are often spoken 
of as endings or suffixes. 

1. The addition of a letter or syllable to the end of a word 
often causes a change in the word itself ; as, sleep-ed becomes 
{\).sleep-d, (2) slep-t; cp. gold and gild-en, nation and national, 
%oose and gdsling. 



16 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 

2. The ending has sometimes disappeared altogether, and the 
internal change does duty for an inflexion. Thus, the word men 
(for mannis) has really lost the ending that brought about the 
change ; cp. lead, led (once ledde) ; feed, fed (once fedde). 

3. The loss of a letter in the middle of a word causes change ; 
cp. ter for ever. It is this change that explains made from 
■maked ; stile from stigel, &c. 

§ 14. English has lost very many endings, but it is 
not any the worse off on that account. It supplies 
their place by what we may call relational words (or 
words that carry us to some Other word in the same 
sentence). Thus : instead of saying " a bafs wing," 
we can say " a wing of a bat." Here of does duty for 
the ending 's. 

We say " a /ion-ess " to show that we are naming 
the female. We might say " a she-X\ovi" just as we do 
always speak of " a jfo-bear." The word she does 
exactly the same duty, and marks the same notion, 
as the ending -ess. 

In fact, these endings, which now mean little by 
themselves, but modify greatly the words to which 
they are added, were once independent words j as, ly 
in god-ly is only a corruption of the word like in god- 
like. 



in.] NOUNS: CLASSIFICATION. 



CHAPTER III. 

NOUNS. 

I.— DEFINITION. 
§ 15. A Noun is a word used as a name. 

The word Noun comes from Fr. nom, Lat. nomen, a name, 
that by which anything is known. 

II.— CLASSIFICATION. 
§ 16. There are two kinds of nouns : — 

1. Proper. 

2. Common. 

A Proper Noun is the name of only one person 
or thing in the same sense; as, Henry, Lojidon, Jupiter. 

Proper means "belonging to oneself," not possessed by an- 
other, peculiar to one thing. 

A Common Noun is the name of each individual 
in the same class or sort of things ; as, man, girl, city, 
tree. 

Common Nouns include what are called Collective Nouns 
and Abstract Nouns. 

(1) When a noun stands for a number (or collection) of persons 
or things considered as one it is called a Collective 
Noun; as, "a jury." 
3 



18 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 

(2) When a noun is the name of a quality, property, or action, 
it is called an Abstract Noun ; as, whiteness, honesty, 
love, reading. The word abstract means drawn off. 
Abstract nouns are so called because they are the 
names of qualities or states considered apart from the 
objects to which they belong. We see and speak of a 
white floiver, but we may think and speak of the white- 
ness alone. 

The form of the verb with to before it is used as an abstract 
noun ; as. to play cricket is pleasanter than to learn 
grammar. 

III.— INFLEXIONS. 

§ 17. Nouns and Pronouns have inflexions to mark 
Gender, Number, and Case. 

Gender of Nouns. 

§ 18. Gender is that form of the noun which 
shows whether we are speaking of living beings (males 
or females), or lifeless things. The names of males 
are called Masculine nouns. The names of females 
are called Feminine nouns. 

The word gender (Fr. genre, Lat. genus) means kind or class. 
It belongs only to words : thus the person man is of the male sex, 
but the word man is masculine or of the masculine gender. 

The names of things without life are called Neuter 
nouns, because they are of neither gender. 

A noun that is either masculine or feminine is said 
to be of the Common gender ; as parent (father or 
mother), child (boy or girl). 

When the masculine and feminine have each a 



in.] GENDER OF NOUNS. 19 

distinct ending, then we have what is strictly termed 
grammatical gender ; as — 

Masc. Fem. 

murder-er and murder-ess. 
sorcer-er „ sorcer-ess. 

Bat such words are now very few, and the masculine 
noun occurs most often without any ending to mark 
gender, as— 

Masc. Fem. 

giant and giant-ess. 
peer „ peer-ess. 

We then have chiefly to consider the endings of 
feminine nouns. 

The feminine is formed from the masculine by the 
suffix -ess. 

Masc Fem. 

heir heir-ess. 

founder foundr-ess. 

actor actr-ess. 

cater-er eater-ess. 

This suffix comes to us from the Norman-French -esse 
(Lat. -issa). It is not found in the language before the twelfth 
century. It is now the only common mode of forming the 
feminine. Its use is now restricted ; it cannot be put to every 
masculine noun. 

In some few borrowed words we have feminine endings of 
foreign origin, as — 



Masc. 




Fem. 


executor 


and 


execu-trix. 


hero 


,, 


hero-ine. 


sultan 


,, 


sultan -a. 



20 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 

§ 19. Remains of Older Modes of Marking the 
Feminine. 

1. By the suffix -ster. 

Spinster, the name of an unmarried woman, once 
signified a female spinner. 

In O. E. many masculines in -er had a corresponding feminine 
in -ster : as, 

Masc. Fern. 

O. E. bcec-ei-e— baker, bcec-estre=-ha.x\.eT. 

sang-ere — sing-er, sang-estre — song-stress. 

In the 14th century the N. Fr. -ess took the place of the older 
-ster as a feminine ending. After a time, -ster merely marked 
the agent, as in songster and sempster ; then, to mark the femi- 
nine, -ess was tacked on to -ster, as in song-str-ess, and semp- 
str-ess. 

2. By the suffix -en. 

Vix-^, the old feminine of fox (once pronounced 
vox in some parts of England). 

Irregular Forms. 

Bridegroom ( = the bride's man) is formed from 
the feminine bride. The word groom once meant 
man. 

Gander is formed from an old root, gans, a goose. 

Drake ( = duck-king) is formed from the old roots, 
end, a duck, and rake, a king. 

Lady is the feminine of lord. 

Lass ( = lad-ess) is the feminine of lad. 

Woman is a compound of wife and man. 



III.] NUMBER OF NOUNS. 21 

§ 20. As a substitute for suffixes of gender we can 
make a compound term by putting a masculine or 
feminine word to a noun of the common gender • as, 

he-goat, she-goat, 

man-servant, maid-servant. 

We have many distinct words for the masculine and 
the feminine, the use of which does not belong to 
grammar. 

Number. 

§ 21. Number is that form of the noun or pro- 
noun which marks whether we are speaking of one 
thing or more than one. 

When a noun or pronoun signifies one thing, it is 
said to be of the Singular number. 

When a noun or pronoun denotes more than one 
of the same kind, it is said to be of the Plural 
number. 

§ 22. Formation of the Plural of Nouns. 

General Rule. — The plural is formed by adding -s to 
the singular ; as, book-i-, bag-j, boy-J. 

The letter s stands for two distinct sounds : (i) for the sharp 
sound in book-j, and (2) for the flat sound z in bag-j, boy-.f. 
(See§ 10, p. ii.) 

Our plural S is a shortened form of O. E. as. Thus the plural 
of smith was first smith-as, then smith-es, and finally smiths. 



22 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 

Modifications of the General Rule. 

i. Singular Nouns ending in s, z, x, sh, soft ch, 
j (all containing an s sound), form the plural by the 
syllable es (pronounced ez); as ga.s-es, box-^r, brush-^, 
church-^, judg-^r. 

2. Nouns of English origin ending in f, fe, having 1 
or any long vowel (except oo) before f, fe, change f 
into v when adding the sign of the plural. 

Singular. Plural. 

loaf, loaves, 

wife, wives, 

wolf, wolves. 

The words life, wife, were once written without the final e, 
and the plural es made a distinct syllable. 

3. Words ending in y (not preceded by a vowel) 
form the plural by changing y into i and adding es; as, 

Singular. Plural. 

lady, ladies, 

fly, flies. 

§ 23. Remains of older Modes of forming the 
Plural. 
1. By change of vowel. 



Singular. 




PluraL 


man 




men. 


foot 




feet. 


tooth 




teeth. 


mouse 




mice. 


2. By the ending -en, 






(a) ox-en, hos-en, shoo-« (shoes). 


(b) ki-ne, childr-en, 


brethr-^tf. . 



III.] NUMBER OF NOUNS. 23 

Ki-ne has two marks of the plural, change of vowel and the 
suffix -en. 

Childr-e-« and brethr-e-w are also double plurals. 

3. Some nouns have one form for the singular and 
plural ; as, sheep, deer, swine. 

§ 24. (1) Some words have two plural forms, one of which is 
older than the other. They have different meanings. 



Older form. 




Modern form. 


brethren 


and 


brothers. 


pennies 
clothes 


» 


pence. 

cloths. 



(2) Some words are used only in the singular. 

(a) Proper names, [b) abstract nouns, [c) collective nouns, 
(d) names of metals, materials, &c. : Milton, temper- 
ance, cavalry, gold, leather, &c. 

(3) Others are used only in the plural. 

\d) Parts of the body, (b) articles of dress, (r) tools, 
(d) masses of things, lights, bowels, drawers, tongs, 
shears, ashes, &c. 

§ 25. Foreign words, if naturalised, form their plural 
regularly by adding s to the singular : indexes, focuses, 
funguses, &c. 

All nouns treated as foreign words retain their 
foreign plurals, as 

Singular. Plural. 

formula formulae, 

datum data, 

phenomenon phenomena. 



24 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 



Case. 

§26. Case is that form of the noun (or pronoun) 
which shows its bearing or relation to some other word 
in the sentence. (See § 14, p. 16.) 

The Teacher must first explain the Subject, Predicate, and Object of a 
Sentence, before attempting to discuss cases. (See § 118, p. 101.) 

§ 27. When a noun {or pronoun) is the subject of 
a sentence it is said to be in the Nominative 
case, as John sings, / like to listen. 

It is called the Nominative because it names the person or 
thing that does or suffers the action stated by the verb. 

To find the Nominative, ask a question by putting who or what 
before the verb, and the answer will be the Nominative. Thus, 
in the example above, if we ask " Who sings ?" " Who likes?" 
The answers will be John and /, which are the Nominatives. 

§ 28. When a noun stands for the person spoken to 
or addressed, it is said to be in the Vocative case. 
It has the same form as the Nominative, and is some- 
times called the Nominative of Address; as, Father 
come and look here ! O Sir, do not be angry. 

§ 29. When a noun stands for the object of an 
action it is said to be in the Objective case; as, John 
killed a rat. 

The Objective case of nouns is now like the Nominative, but it 
was not always so, and is not now so of pronouns. The Objective 
in English includes — 



in.] CASES OF NOUNS. 25 

(1) The direct object after a transitive verb ; as, "He 

struck James. " "He hurt his^W. " To find the direct 
object, ask a question with whom or what before the 
verb, and the answer will give it, e.g. " Whom did he 
strike?" "What did he hurt?" James, foot, which 
are the direct objects. 

In Latin we should call the direct object the Accusative case. 

(2) The indirect object, which is equivalent to a noun 

with the preposition to or for before it; as, "Give John 
his book." "He bears William a grudge." "Build 
me a house." William — to William, John — to John, 
r?ie — for me. 

The indirect object answers to the Dative in Latin and 
other languages. In O.E. there was a suffix to distinguish 
this case (in the singular and plural) from the direct object {or 
accusative). 

The form of the verb with to before it, when it denotes purpose, is an 
indirect object. " What went ye out to see ? " to see =for seeing. 

(3) A noun after a preposition ; as, "He put his foot 

on the ground." " He came from London" &c. 

It must be recollected, that in English the preposition along 
with a following noun is equal to a case form in Latin. 

§ 30. When a noun by its form denotes the pos- 
sessor, it is said to be in the Possessive case ; as, 
" the boy's book," " the cafs tail," " the sun's rays." 

(a) The Possessive case is the only form of the noun that 
expresses a relation by means of an ending or suffix. 
The difference between the Nominative and Objective 
must be thought out, the sense and position being our 
guides in determining which is used. 



26 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 

(3) We use the Possessive case simply to mark possession. 
It is chiefly used with reference to living things. The 
preposition of is used instead of the inflexion in other 
instances ; as, "The roof of the house;" not, as we 
could once say, "The house's roof." 

In old English this case corresponded to the Genitive in 
German, Latin, &c. Nouns of time still keep it ; as, "a week's 
supply "i "a day's j ourney. " 

§ 31. Formation of the Possessive Case. 

The Possessive case is formed by adding *s to 
the Nominative. 

Singular man-'s 
Plural men-'s 

Exception. — Nouns forming their plural by S take 
the apostrophe only. 

Singular boy-'s sweep-'s 
Plural boys' sweeps' 

In the spoken language the possessive singular does 
not differ from the possessive plural, boy's and boys' 
being pronounced alike. 

(a) The apostrophe is really a mere written device for dis- 
tinguishing the possessive case from the plural number 
of the noun. It came into use about the 17th century. 
Apostrophe means "turned away," and is so called 
because it shows that something has been omitted, 
cp. e'en = even. The real omission is the letter e ; 
lord's and lords' were once written and pronounced 
lord-es. 



III.] 



CASES OF NOUNS. 



2^ 



(b) At one time it was supposed that 's meant his, and we 
actually find some writers using such expressions as 
' ' the king his crown. " 

The apostrophe is sometimes used to mark the loss of the 
possessive sign in the singular, as "Moses* law," "for 
justice' sake." The sign ' is no real case form. 



§ 32. Declension of a Noun. 





Singular. Plural. 


Singular. Plural. 


Nominative ] 






and > 


man men 


child children 


Vocative ) 






Possessive 


man's men's 


child's children's 


Objective 


man men 


child children 




Sing. Plural. 


Sing. 


Plural. 


Sing. Plural 


Nominative ) 










and > 


boy boys 


fox 


foxes 


thief thieves 


Vocative ) 










Possessive 


boy's boys' 


fox's 


foxes' 


thief s thieves' 


Objective 


boy boys 


fox 


foxes 


thief thieves 



28 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 



CHAPTER IV. 

ADJECTIVES. 

I.— DEFINITION. 

§ 33. The Adjective is a word used with a noun 
to distinguish or describe the thing named or spoken of. 
Adjective (Lat. adjedivum) means "added to." 

II.— CLASSIFICATION. 
§ 34. Some. Adjectives express quality ; as, large, tall, 
rich; others denote quantity or number; as, much, 
little, fezu, one, both ; a third kind point out and limit 
the thing spoken of ; as, " a book," " the man." 
Hence there are three kinds of Adjectives : — 

1. Adjectives of Quantity. 

2. „ „ Quality. 

3. Demonstrative Adjectives. 

Many of the pronouns are used as adjectives ; as, this, that, 
each, every, &c. 

§ 35. The Adjectives an, a, and the are some- 
times called Articles. 

An or a is called the Indefinite Article, and the 
the Definite Article. 

An or a is used before a noun to show that any one 
thing is spoken of; as " an apple " = any apple. 



iv.] ADJECTIVES: COMPARISON. 29 

An drops n and becomes a before a consonant ; 
as, " a book," " a history," " a yew-tree." 

An is another form of the word one. Cp., " all of 
a size = all of one size." 

No, meaning not one, is used for "not a;" as, "he is 
no dunce." 

The is used before a noun to show that some 
particular person or thing is spoken of; as, " the man," 
" the boy." 

Parse the as an adverb in "so much £&?more," " the more 
the merrier :" here the = by that. 

III.— INFLEXIONS. 

§ 36. The Adjective once had inflexions to mark 
gender, number, and case. It now only changes its 
form to mark comparison. 

Comparison of Adjectives. 

§ 37. The Adjective has three forms to express 
Degrees of Comparison, the Positive, Comparative, 
and Superlative. 

The Positive is the adjective in its simple form • 
as, " a small boat," " a tall man." 

The Comparative is formed by adding -er to 
the Positive ; as, " a small-er boat," " a tall-er man." 

It is used when two things or two sets of things are 
compared, to show that one of them possesses the 
quality in a greater or less degree than the other. 



3° 



PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 



The Superlative is formed by adding -est to the 
Positive; as, "the small-est boat," "the tall-est man." 

It is used when one thing is compared with all 
others of the same kind; as, "John is the tall-^/ boy 
in his class." 

{a) When the Positive ends in a silent e, -r and -st only 
are added ; as, large, large-r, large-st. 

(6) When the Positive ends in y (not preceded by a 
vowel), y is changed into i before the endings ; as, 
happy, happz'-er, happz-est. 

Words of more than two syllables, and most words 
of two syllables, are compared by the adverbs vwrt 
and most; as, " more valiant," " most valiant." 

The words that are compared by the inflexions {cr and est) 
are mostly pure English words. 



§ 38. Irregular Comparisons. 



Positive. 

I. late, 
nigh, 
near, 
old, 



Comparative. Superlative. 

latter, later, last, latest, 

nigher (near), nighest, next, 

nearer, nearest, 

elder, older, eldest, oldest. 



better, 



2. good, 
bad, 
ill, 
evil, 
little, less, 

much, 
many, 



best. 

worst. 

least, 
most. 



more, 
(1) Late has two comparatives and superlatives ; of these, 



iv.] ADJECTIVES: COMPARISON. 31 

latter and last (the ones most changed) are the oldest, cp., near, 
next ; elder, eldest. 

Last is a contraction of an old form lat-st — lat-est. 
Next is a contraction of nighest (cp., O. E. neh-st, in which 

the h was a sharp guttural, sounded as ch in loch). 
Near was once comparative. 

Elder, eldest have vowel change, as well as inflexion. 
(2) The comparatives and superlatives in group (2) are all 
formed from positives no longer in use. 

Better comes from a root, bat = good (cp., our "to 

boot"), with change of vowel, as in elder. 
Best = bet-st = bet-est, cp. last. 

Wor-se comes from a root, weor = bad. The suffix 
-se is another form of the comparative ending -er 
Worst is shortened from worrest. 
Less is formed from a root, las, meaning weak, infirm. 
The suffix -s (= -se) is another form of the com- 
parative -r. 
Much once meant large, great. 
The mo in mo-re and mo-st also meant great. 
3. Farther and farthest are slightly irregular, a th 
having crept in through a confusion with further (the com- 
parative of the adverb forth. ) 

Rather is now an adverb ; it was once an adjective. Its 

positive was rathe, meaning early. 
Former is a corruption of an old for?ne, meaning first 
(superlative of fore). The m is an old superlative 
ending, still found in f or-m-ost. 
Most superlatives ending in -most contain two superla- 
tive suffixes, -m and -ost ( = -est). 
First is a superlative of fore = front ; cp., fore leg, forehead. 
O-ther contains the numeral one (from which the n has 

gone), and a comparative ending -ther. 
Other once meant seco?id ; cp., every other day. 



PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 



CHAPTER V. 

PRONOUNS. 
I DEFINITION. 

§ 39. The Pronoun is a word used for a noun. 

A Pronoun can stand for an "equivalent to a noun," whether 
it be a phrase or sentence : "It mattered not to him whether it 
were night or day." "ft" here stands for "whether it were night 
or day." 

As the Pronoun stands for the noun, it always refers to some- 
thing which has been named. 

Many Pronouns are used as adjectives: (1) the Possessive 
cases ; (2) some Demonstratives ; (3) some Relative and Inter- 
rogative Pronouns ; (4) some Indefinite Pronouns. 

II. CLASSIFICATION OF PRONOUNS. 

§ 40. There are five kinds of Pronouns : — 

1. Personal Pronouns. 

2. Demonstrative Pronouns 

3. Interrogative Pronouns. 

4. Relative Pronouns. 

5. Indefinite Pronouns. 



v.] PRONOUNS: PERSONAL. 33 



1. Personal Pronouns. 

§ 41. The Personal Pronouns are so called because 
they name the person speaking, spoken to, or spoken 
of. There are then three Persons : — 

1. The First, which denotes the person speaking; 
as I, we, &c. 

2. The Second, which denotes the person spoken 
to; as, thou, ye, you, &c. 

3. The Third, which relates to the person or thing 
spoken of; as, he, she, it, that, one. 

Strictly speaking, the pronouns of the third person are not 
personal pronouns ; thus he is demonstrative and has gender. 
For convenience sake we may call it the pronoun of the third 
person, not a personal pronoun ; one is an indefinite pronoun. 

Declension of Personal Pronouns. 

§ 42. Pronouns have more inflexions than nouns 
for number and case. 

The First Person. 

Singular. PluraL 

Nominative I we 

Possessive mine, my our, ours 

Objective (direct) me us 

Objective (indirect) me | us 



34 



PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 



The Second Person. 



thou 



Nom. and ) 
Vocative \ 
Possessive thine, thy 
Objective (direct) thee 
Objective (indirect) thee 



ye, you. 

your, yours. 

you. 

you. 



For the explanation of indirect object see § 29, p. 25. 

(1.) I was once written ic and ich. 

(2.) Mine and thine (O. E. min and thtri) were once the 
only possessives of the first and second person in use. 
The loss of the letter n brought my and thy into use. 
The older forms are now only used when no noun 
follows. In poetry they are sometimes used before 
words beginning with a vowel or silent h. Cp. the 
double forms an and a. 

(3. ) The second person singular has gone out of common 
use. 

(4.) You, once only objective, has taken the place of the 
old nominative ye. 



The Third Person. 







Singular. 




Plural. 




Masc. 


Fern. 


Neuter. 




Nominative 


he 


she 


it 


they 


Possessive 


his 


her, hers 


its 


their,theirs 


Objective (direct) 


him 


her 


it 


them 


Objective (indirect) 


him 


her 


it 


them 



. The Pronouns contain endings marking : — 
(1) Case : s in his ; n in mi-ne, thi-ne (all genitive); m 
in hi-tn; r in he-r (both dative) ; r in tkei-r (gen. pi.) ; 
m in the-m (dat. pi.). Ours, you-rs, &c, are double 
genitives. 



v.] PRONOUNS: REFLEXIVE. 35 

(2) Gender : t in i-t (O.E. hi-t), once maked the neuter, 
as in wha-t and tha-t. She was once the feminine of 
the definite article. The Old English for she was he-o, 
from which he-r is formed. 

Its is quite a modern form. The O.E. was hi-s, which 
we find in the authorised version of the Scriptures. 
(a.d. 1611.) 

They (with its cases) was once the plural of the, and 
meant the and those. 

§ 43. The Possessive cases of the Pronouns of the 
three persons are now used as adjectives : 

Singular : my, mine ; thy, thine ; his, hers, 
its. 

Plural : our, ours ; your, yours 5 their, 
theirs. 

(1) Notice the use of mine, thine, hers, ours, yours, their s, 

without a following noun ; as, It is mine, not yours. 

(2) Notice that my = Latin mens, not mei which must 

be expressed by of me. 

§ 44. Self is added to the pronouns of the three 
persons (1) to form Reflexive Pronouns; (2) to 
express emphasis. 

Singular: myself, thyself, yourself, himself, 
herself, itself, oneself. 

Plural: ourselves, yourselves, themselves. 

(1) The Reflexives are used when a person does something to 
himself; as, "I laid myself down," "he hurt himself" 
In some old expressions the objective case of the simple 
pronoun is used; as, "I laid me down and slept," "he 
sat him down." 



36 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 

(2) The compounds of self are emphatic in "I saw it my- 

self'," "he himself has done it, &c." 
Formerly the dative was always joined to self ; as himself 
not the possessive, as in myself which used to be meself 

(3) Self is sometimes a noun; as, " your innocent self;" 

" he thinks much of self" 

2. Demonstrative Pronouns. 

§ 45. The Demonstratives are used in speaking 
definitely of the thing named : as, " this is the book I 
want, but I should like that which is on yonder table, 
if it is not the same. I have never seen such books as 
these." 

§ 46. The Demonstrative Pronouns are this, that, 
(with their plurals, these and those), same, such, 
yon, self-same. 

That was originally the neuter of the. 

Such means " so-like :" / has been lost. 

Yon has now become a mere adjective. The Scotch use 
yon as a pronoun ; as, "yon's a grand house." 

Self-same : self once meant same. 

When such {— so), comes before an adjective, followed by the 
conjunction that, it is used as an adverb. Pie has suck 
great confidence that he will be sure to succeed. = 
He has confidence so great that he will, &c. The use 
of such in this way is a late usage. 

3. Interrogative Pronouns. 

§ 47. The Interrogative Pronouns are used in 
asking questions :— Who ? which ? what ? 



v.] PRONOUNS: RELATIVE. 37 

Who is thus declined : — 
Nom. who \ 

Poss. whose f Masc. and Fern. 

Obj. (direct) whom (Sing, and Plural. 
„ (indirect) whom / 

Who relates to persons; which to things ; what 
always refers to things, unless it is used as an adjec- 
tive : What book do you want ? What boy has got 
my book ? 

For the s in whose and the m in whom, see p. 34. 

Which is made up of who and like, meaning who-like, or 
what-like. It once related to persons; as, "Our 
Father, which art in Heaven." It is also used for the 
old word whether, which of two. 

Wha-t was originally the neuter of who. See p. 35. 
Who-se is the possessive of what as well as of who; cp., 
his once the possessive of he and it. 

§ 48. Compound Relatives are formed by 
adding -ever ; as, whoever, whatever, whichever. 

4. Relative Pronouns. 

§ 49. The Relative Pronoun is so called because it 
relates or carries us back to some noun or pronoun 
going before (and already stated), called the antecede?it. 
This is the house that I have built. Happy is the 
man that findeth wisdom, and the man who getteth 
understanding. 

The Relative Pronouns are who, what, which, 
that, as. 



33 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR. [chap. 

Who refers to persons; which to animals and 
lifeless things ; that to person and things. 

What is used when the antecedent is omitted. It 
means that which (or the thing which). " What I 
have you are welcome to." 

Do not call what a compound pronoun. 

Who could be used for he who. " Who steals my 
purse steals trash." 

§ 50. As is used as a relative after same and such; 
as, " This is the same as that ; " " These apples are 
very good, you may eat such as are ripe." 

That was sometimes equivalent to that which ; as " We 

speak that we do know. " 
That never follows the preposition that governs it ; as, "I 

know the person that you speak of. " 

§51. Compound Relatives are formed by 
adding -ever and -soever to who, what, and 
which ; as, whosoever, whatsoever, whichsoever. 

Some adverbs (originally cases of pronouns) can be com- 
bined v/ith a preposition to do duty for relatives, though 
they are not usually called such : 

where-of = of which, of what, 

where-to = to which, to what, 

where-by = by which, by what. 

there-of = of that. 
&C., &c 

§ 52. The Relatives, with the exception of that 
and as, were once Interrogatives only. 



v.] PRONOUNS: INDEFINITE. 39 

They are strictly so in all indirect questions: as, "Tell me 
who has hurt you." " Ask him what is going on." 

§ 53. The Relative who is declined like the Inter- 
rogative who, see p. 37. 

5. Indefinite Pronouns. 

§ 54. The Indefinite Pronouns do not point out and 
particularize like the Demonstratives. To this class 
belong one, none, any, some, each, every, 
either, neither, other, another (all of which 
may be used as adjectives) ; aught, naught, some- 
body, something, nothing, anything. 

One is the same word as the numeral one. The Fr. on is 

the Latin homo. 
None is made up of no = not, and one. 

Any contains the original form of one, seen in the article 

an. 
Some once meant one, a. 

Ea-ch originally meant any one like (of two or more 

things. ) The -ch stands for -lick = like ; cp. , which, 

such. 
Ever-y is a corruption of ever each, that is, "each and all" 

(of two or more things). 
Ei-ther means any one of two. It can be used as a con~ 

junction. Neither is the negative of eit/ier. 
For the meaning of -ther see § 38, p. 31. 
O-ther, one of two, see § 38, p. 31. 

Aught means any whit or any wight. ( Wight — person, 

thing ; cp. " an unlucky wight.") 
Naught, nought is the negative of aught = no whit. 
The adverb not is a worn-down form of nought or naught. 



4 o PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR. [chap. 

Else in what else and something else is an indefinite pro- 
noun, being the genitive of an old root el, meaning 
other. 

When else means otherwise it is a conjunction. 

Something (^ — somewhat); anything ( = at all); nothing 
( = not at all), are used as adverbs. 

Certain and several are sometimes used as pronouns. 



VI.] VERBS: CLASSIFICATION. 41 



CHAPTER VI. 

VERBS. 

I. DEFINITION. 

§ 55. The Verb is a word that states or asserts what 
a thing does or is done to; as, " the fire burns" " the 
child sleeps" " John is beaten." 

II. CLASSIFICATION. 

§ 56. Verbs are classified, according to their mean- 
ing, into Transitive and Intransitive. 

Transitive Verbs state an action that is not 
confined to the doer ; as, " he locks the gate." 

Intransitive Verbs express an action that does 
not go beyond the doer \ as, " the child sleeps" " he 
behaves well." 

Transitive means passing over (Lat. trans-it-us) , because in a 
sentence containing a transitive verb the sense is not complete 
unless the object to which the action passes over is stated ; 
as, " the boy tore his coat." 

When a verb that is usually transitive takes no object, it is used 
intransitively ; as, "the fire burns brightly." 

Some intransitive verbs may be made transitive by means of 



42 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 

a preposition ; as, "he laughs" "he laughs-at me;" "the 
river flows" "the river flows over the land," = "the river 
overflows the land." 

All verbs containing the idea of to cause, or to make an action 
take place, are called Causative verbs, and require an object : 
"he fells the tree "= " he caused the tree to fall ;" " \it flies his 
kite "= " he causes his kite to fly." 

Some transitive verbs are used reflexively ; as, "he turned 
aside "= " he turned himself aside." 

Transitive verbs used in a passive sense become Intransitive ; 
as "the vessel broke in two" = "the vessel was broken in two," 

§ 57. Verbs used in the third person only are called 
Impersonal Verbs ; as, me- thinks = it appears 
to me; it seems good; it rains, &c. 

III. INFLEXION. 

§ 58. Verbs have Voice, Mood, Tense, Num- 
ber, and Person. 

1. Voice. 

§ 59. Transitive Verbs have two voices ; the 
Active Voice and the Passive Voice. 

A verb is in the Active Voice when the subject 
of the verb stands for the doer or agent of the 
action ; as, 

(1) "The boy struck the table." 

A verb is in the Passive Voice when the subject of 
the verb stands for the real object of the action ; as, 

(2) " The table was struck by the boy." 



L 



vi.] VERBS: MOOD. 43 

The sentences quoted above show that the voice is determined 
by the subject. If it is active, as in (1), the verb is active ; if it 
is passive, i.e., suffers the action, as in (2), the verb is passive. 

In some languages this is shown by the form of the verb ; as, 
Lat. amatur, he is loved. 

In English the forms of the verb in -en and -ed are a remnant 
of the passive voice, and are always used along with the verb be 
to form the passive voice ; as, "the cup which was broken has 



We have other roundabout ways of expressing the Passive ; 
as, "the house is being built," or by the old phrase, "the 
house is a-building /' a-building — on building, 

2. Mood. 

§ 60. Mood is that form or modification of the verb 
which marks the mode in which an action is viewed 
or stated. 

§ 61. There are three principal moods: (1) Indi- 
cative, (2) Subjunctive, (3) Imperative. 

When a verb is in any of these moods it requires a subject, 
and is said to be a finite verb, i.e. limited by the conditions of 
ti?ne, person, &c. 

These are the only moods in English that have distinct forms 
or are inflexional. 

§ 62. The Indicative Mood is that form of the 
verb that indicates or makes a direct assertion, or asks 
some direct question ; as, He talks. Who talks ? 

§ 6$. The Subjunctive Mood expresses possi- 
bility, doubt, dependency ; as, " If he but blench I know 



44 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 

my course." " For murder, though it have no tongue, 
will speak." 

This mood is called Subjunctive, because of its use in a sub- 
joined or dependent sentence, as, ' ' Love not sleep, lest it bring 
thee to poverty." " If thou keep promise, I shall end this strife." 

Here we see that bring and keep in the dependent sentences are 
distinguished from the Indicative brings and keepest by their want 
of inflexion. But the subjunctive once had its own endings, as 
in Latin. The subjunctive form of the verb is now seldom 
employed. Its place is sometimes supplied by the use of the 
verb should or would. 

The conjunctions which were formerly followed by the sub- 
junctive enable us to express doubt, condition, &c., without 
employing the old inflexional form of the verb. These Conjunc- 
tions are if, whether, provided, though, that, so that, lest, until, 
till, ere, unless, except, which, however, are no parts of the sub- 
junctive mood. 

The verb to be has very distinct forms for the 
subjunctive. See p. 65. 

§ 64. The Imperative Mood is that form of the 
verb that expresses a command or entreaty. " Call 
him back." "Pardon my fault." 

The Imperative contains the simplest form or root of the verb. 

The plural imperative once had the sufhx th to distinguish/ 
it from the singular ; as, loveth = love ye. 

The Imperative is only used in the second person. 

In such expressions as "let me sing," "let him sing," parse 
let as an independent verb, in the imperative mood. Do not parse 
let sing as one verb. 

§ 65. Other forms, not finite (see p. 43), are some- 
times called Moods. These are — 



vi.] VERBS: INFINITIVE MOOD. 45 

1. The form of the verb with to before it, called 
the Infinitive ; as, to sing. 

The Infinitive once had no to before it, but was expressed 
by the suffix -an ; as, drinc-an, to drink. The Infinitive 
without to conies after the verbs, may, can, shall, will, dare, 
must, &c. ; as, "he may be," "he will be," &c. 

The Simple Infinitive is a noun in the nominative or objective 
(direct) case : " to see is to believe," " he wants to see." 

There is another kind of Infinitive called the dative infinitive, 
because it was originally the dative of the simple infinitive. 

It is now an indirect object. A house to let = a house for 
letting ; easy to find '= easy for finding ; the cup I have to drink 
( = for drinking). It often marks purpose ; as, he came to see 
me = he came for the purpose of seeing me. 

2. The forms of the verb in -ed, -en, -ing, are 
called Participles, and they are also used as adjectives. 

" Then rode Geraint into the castle court, 
His charger trampling many a prickly star 
Of sprouted thistle on the broken stones. 
He look'd, and saw that all was ruinous. 
Here stood a shatter 1 d archway plumed with fern, 
And here had fall' n a great part of a tower." 

These forms in -ed, -en, -ing, were called participles because 
they participate of the nature of adjectives (in qualifying a noun) 
and of verbs (in governing an objective case). The participle 
in -ing once ended in -end, -and, or -hide. 

Be careful to distinguish a noun in -ing from a participle in 
-ing: this is a fine building (noun); he is building a house (par- 
ticiple). 

The form in -ing (O. E. -ung) is a noun in the following 
passages : The house is building = the house is a-building ; 



46 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR. [chap. 

he is fond of building ( = of the building of ) houses ; he talked 
of your coming here to-day ; he took to hunting. See Syntax, 
p. 92. 

The form in -ing is called the Present participle ; 
the forms in -ed and -e?i are called Passive participles. 

3. Tense. 

§66. The form or modification of the verb used 
to indicate time is called Tense (Fr. temps, Lat. 
tempas). 

Time may be considered as 

1. Present 

2. Past. 

3. Future. 

There are three Tenses. 

1. Present I speak. 

2. Past I spoke. 

3. Future I shall speak. 

He will speak. 

The state of the action may be considered as 

(1) Indefinite; as, I write. 

(2) Progressive ; as, I am writing. 

(3) Completed or perfect ; as, I have written. 

The words be, have, shall, will, which help to form tenses, are 
called auxiliary verbs. 

Each tense then has three forms, according to the 
following scheme. 



VI.] 



VERBS: TENSES. 



47 



V 2 


© 

ft 

M 


a 
© 

© 

d '3 
i-i d 

P< 

M 


© 5c 

^ G 
d-H 

rG.2 

U ^ 
7-f u 
d ft 
^ d 
w © 


£ 


T3 fi. 

© © 
CO © 

8 ® 

d ^ P< 

5 M 


-d a 

0) © 
CO © 

d ^ d< 
1-1 S 


© © 
d S* 

r-( CO -H d 

d d d cl 

An.*? 
co ft co d 

3 3* 


s5 


be fcc 

.2 B 

"S *§ 

ft a as 
S d ft 


« 2> 

ft rQ © 

co 

to . en •* 
d bo d d 


© 

r-l G 

"33 

£ d 

to ti 

ft 

M 


c 


73 

CD 

_co 

© 8 
.2 P. 

^ d 
P< d 

M M 


•d 

© 

CO 

"d d 
© ^ 

w ft 

p d 
ft £ 

M HI 

3 S 


CD © 

d ^ 

ft "-' 
.-7 «J.2 

r-j ,C d 

d co u 

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M M 


6 

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<u 




co 

8 



48 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 

Notice that only the present and past tenses of the active voice, 
indicative mood, are inflected tenses. 

§ 67. An emphatic form of the present and past 
tenses may be made by using do. 

Present I do love. 
Past I did love. 

But it is not emphatic when used in interrogative 
and negative sentences. 

Do you hear ? Did you listen ? 1 do not hear. I 
did not listen. (See notes on Do, p. 72.) 

4. Person and Number, 

§ 68. The verb is Singular when it agrees with 
a subject in the singular number, and Plural when 
it agrees with a subject in the plural ; as, 

Singular : " he writes" 
Plural : " they write." 

There are three persons (as in the pronouns, see 
§ 41, p. 33), the first, the second, and the third. 

The plural has no endings to mark person. We 
know the person by looking to the subject; as, " We 
speak" "you speak" " the boys speak" or " they speak" 

The first person singular has no ending ; as, " I 
talk." 

The second person, which is seldom used, has -est 
C-st) ; as, " thou talk-est." 



vi.] VERBS: CONJUGATION. 49 

The third person (present) has ~s, with the old 
form -eth ; as, "he talk-s," or " talk-eth." 

These endings belong only to the indicative mood. 

The subjunctive has no person-endings. 

We might do without any endings, because the personal pro- 
noun marks the person. 

These endings were once pronouns themselves. Cp. a-V», 
zx-t, &c. 

5. Conjugation. 

§ 69. Verbs may be divided into two classes : 

(1) Those that make their past tense by -d or-t ; as, 

Present, I love. Pasty I love-*/. 
I sleep. I slep-A 

(2) Those that make their past tense by changing 
the vowel of the present ; as, 

Present, I wn'te. Past, I wn?te. 

Verbs of the first class are called Weak, and those 
of the second Strong verbs. 

Be careful to notice that a strong verb adds nothing to the 
past tense. Thus got, the past tense of get, is a strong verb ; 
but tol-d, the past tense of tell, is a weak verb. 

The change of vowel in the past tense of strong verbs, as fall, 
fell, &c, must not be confounded with the shortening of the 
vowel, as in feed oxidi fed (once fed-de). 

The Passive Participles of all strong verbs once ended in 
-en ; but this suffix has fallen away in many verbs ; as, drunk 
b= drunken, &a Passive participles of weak verbs end in -ed 
(-d, -t) ; those of strong verbs never had this ending, and when 
they take it they become weak ; as, he was tol-d (weak) ; he has 
mown (strong) ; he has mowed (weak). 



5° 



PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 



§ 70. Classification of Strong Verbs. 

Strong verbs are classified according to the changes of their 
central vowels. 





CLASS L 




Pres. 


Past. 


Pass. Part 


a, 0. 


e. 


a. 


fall 


fell 


fallen 


hold 


held 


held, holden* 


blow 


blew 


blown 


grow 


grew 


grown 


know 


knew 


known 


throw 


threw 


thrown 


crow 


crew 


crown* 


hang 


hung 


hung 


beat 


beat 


beaten 




Forms marked thus * arc 


archaic 



Mow, sow, hew, once belonged to this class. Their strong 
participles, mown, sown, hewn, are sometimes used. 

Hang once made a past tense heng. 

Go or gang has borrowed its past tense went from wend, to go. 

Gone is a strong past participle. 



VI.] 


STRONG VERBS, 51 




CLASS II. 




Pres. 


Past. 


Pass. Part. 


i. 


a, u, ou 


U, OU 


begin 
cling 
drink 


began 

clung, clang* 
drank 


begun 

clung 
drunk 


run 


ran 


run 


swim 


swam 


swum 


spin 


spun, span* 


spun 


sing 

shrink 


sang 

shrank 


sung 
shrunk 


sink 


sank 


sunk 


fling 
sling 


flung, flang* 
slung, slang* 


flung 
slung 


ring 

slink 


rang 

slunk 


rung 

slung 


spring 
sting 


sprang 
stung, stang* 


sprung 
stung 


swing 


swung, swang* 


swung 


wring 


wrung, wrang* 


wrung 


win 


won, wan* 


won 


bind 


bound 


bound, bounden* 


find 


found 


found 


fight 
grind 
wind 


fought 
ground 
wound 


fought 
ground 
wound 


e 


O 





help 
melt 


holp* 
molt* 


holpen 
molten 


swell 




swollen 


burst 


burst 


burst 



* Archaic. 
Help, melt, swell, have now the weak form for past tense and 
passive participle. 



52 PRIMER 


OF ENGLISH 


GRAMMAR, [chap. 




CLASS III. 




Prcs. 


Past. 


Pass. Part. 


i 


a 


i. 


(i) bid 


bade, bid 


bidden, bid 


give 
lie 


gave 
lay 


given 
lien, lain* 


sit 


sat 


sat 


ea, (ee), e 


a, (0) 


ea, (ee,) 0. 


(2) eat 


ate 


eaten 


get 
tread 


got, gat* 
trod 


gotten, got* 
trodden, trod 


see 


saw 


seen 


weave 


wove 
quoth 
was 


woven 


Words marked thus * are 


archaic 




CLASS IV. 




Pres. 


Past. 


Pass. Part. 


a 


0, 00, e 


a(o) 


awake 


awoke 


awoke 


forsake 


forsook 


forsaken 


lade 




laden 


grave 
stand 


stood 


graven 
stood 


shave 




shaven 


shake 


shook 


shaken 


swear 


swore 


sworn 


take 


took 


taken 


draw 


drew 


drawn 


slay 


slew 


slain 



Lade, grave, and shave have weak forms for the past tense and 
passive participle. 



VL] 


STRONG VERBS. 53 




CLASS V. 




Pres. 


Past. 


Pass. Part. 


i (long). 


O 


i (short) 


a-bide 


abode 


abode, abiden* 


bite 


bit 


bitten 


drive 


drove 


driven 


chide 


chid, chode* 


chidden, chid 


ride 


rode, rid* 


ridden, rid 


rise 


rose 


risen 


rive 


' rove 


riven 


shine 


shone 


shone 


shrive 


shrove 


shriven 


slide 


slid 


slidden, slid 


smite 


smote, smit* 


smitten 


stride 


strode 


stridden 


thrive 


throve 


thriven 


write 


wrote, writ* 


written 


strike 


struck 


struck, stricken 


strive 


strove 
* Archaic. 


striven 


Chide, rive, slide have also weak forms 


in the past tense and 


lassive particle. 







VI. 



ee, 00 o o. 

freeze froze frozen 

seethe sod* sodden, sod* 

cleave clove cloven 

choose chose chosen 

lose ... lorn* 

shoot shot shot, shotten* 

fly flew flown 

Seethe, cleave, lose, have weak forms in the past tense and 
passive participle. 
6 



54 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 

§ 71. Classification of Weak Verbs. 

We may divide the weak verbs roughly into two 
classes. 

1. Those that have -ed, -d, or -/ in the past tense 
and passive participle. 

2. Those that have lost the -d or -/ in the past 
tense and passive participle. 

Class I. 

We often write -ed t but we only sound it when the 
verb ends in -d or -/, as me/id-ed, lift-ed. 

In all other cases it is pronounced -d or -/, as 
dragged = dragd. 
locked = lockt. 

( 1 ) This -ed was once a separate verb and meant did. I loved 
= I love-did. 

(2) -d becomes -/ after a sharp mute (for reason see p. 11) and 
sometimes after /, m, n, as slept, felt, burnt, dreamt. 

(3) Some verbs shorten the long vowel in the past tense and 
passive participle ; as, hear, heard ; flee, fled ; sleep, slept (see 
§ 13, P- ISO 

(4) A few have not the same vowel in the present as in the 
past. 

(a) tell, tol-d, tol-d. 

buy, bought, bought. 
(p) teach, taught, taught. 

work, wrought, wrought. 

(5) Some have lost an internal letter ; as, made — maked ; 
>fo</=haved. 



vi.] WEAK VERBS. 55 

Class II, 

1. Some verbs of this class shorten their vowel 
in the past tense and passive participle, and look like 
strong verbs. 

feed, fed, fed. 
&c, &c, &c 

2. Others ending in Id or nd change the d into / 
in the past tense and past participle. 

buhV, buil/, buil/. 
sen;/, sen/, sen/. 
&c, &c, &c. 

3. A third kind ending in d or / have the three 
forms (present, past, and passive participle) alike. 

rid, rid, rid. 
set, set, set. 
&c, &c, &c. 

All verbs of Class II. had an inflexion in Old English, e.g. 

Past Tense. Pass. Part. 

fed-de fed-ed = fed. 

sende [= send-de] send-ed = sent, 

set-te sett-ed = set. 

As the verb in both conjugations is inflected only 
in the present and past indefinite tenses, the forms of 
the English verb are easily mastered. 



56 



PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 





§72. I. STRONG 


CONJUGATION. 




To smite. 




Present, sm/te. Past, sm^te. Passive Participle, 




sm/ten. 






Present Tense. 


Sing 
Indicative Mood. 
i. I sm/te 

2. Thou sm/t-est 

3. He sm/te-s, 

sm/te-th 


ular. 

Subjunctive Mood. 

1. I sm/te 

2. Thou sm/te 

3. He sm/te 


1. 


Flu 
We sm/te 


ral. 
1. 


We sm/te 


2. 
3- 


Ye, you sm/te 
They sm/te 


2. 

3- 


Ye, you sm/te 
They sm/te 




Past Tense. 




1. 

2. 
3- 


Sing 
I sm^te 
Thou sirutf-est 
He smtfte 


ular. 
1. 
2. 
3- 


I smtfte 
Thou snwte 
He smtfte 


1. 
2. 
3- 


Plu 
We smtfte 
Ye, you sm<?te 
They smote 


ral. 
1. 
2. 
3- 


We srrwte 
Ye, you snwte 
They sm^te 



Imperative Mood. 
Singular — Smite (thou). Plural — Smite (ye, you). 
Infinitive, to smite. Present Participle, smit-ing. 
Passive Participle, smit-<«. 



VI.] 



WEAK VERBS. 



57 



§ 73. II. WEAK CONJUGATION. 
To Lift. 

Pres., lift. Past, lift-*/. Pass. Part., lift-*/. 
Present Tense. 

Singular. 



Indicative Mood. 

1. I lift 

2. Thoulift-est 

3. He lift-s (-th) 


Subjunctive Mood 

1. I lift 

2. Thou lift 

3. He lift 


Plural. 




1. We lift 

2. Ye, you lift 

3. They lift 


1. 

2. 

3. 


We lift 
Ye, you lift 
They lift 


Past Tense. 




Sing 

1. I lift-*/ 

2. Thou lift-*/-st 

3. He lift-*/ 


ular. 
1. 
2. 
3- 


I lift-*/ 
Thou lift-*/ 
He lift-*/ 


Plural. 




1. We lift-*/ 

2. Ye, you lift-*/ 

3. They lift-*/ 


1. 

2. 
3- 


We lift-*/ 
Ye, you lift-*/ 
They lift-*/ 



Imperative Mood. 

Singular — lift (thou). Plural — lift (ye, you). 

Infinitive, to lift. Present Participle, lift-ing. 
Passive Participle, lift-*/. 



58 



PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 



§ 74. Alphabetical List of Strong Verbs. 



1 The forms in italics are weak. Those marked thus * are archaic. 



Pre*. 


Past. 


Pass. Part. 


abide 


abode 


abode 


arise 


arose 


arisen 


awake 


awoke 


awoke 


bake 


awaked* 


awaked 
baken 




baked 


baked 


bear (bring forth) 


bore, bare* 


born 


bear (carry) 


bore, bare* 


borne 


beat 


beat 


beaten 


begin 


began 


begun 


behold 


beheld 


beholden, beheld 


bid 


bade, bid 


bidden, bid 


bind 


bound 


bounden,* bound 


bite 


bit 


bitten, bit 


blow 


blew 


blown 


break 


broke, brake* 


broken 


burst 


burst 


burst, bursten* 


chide 


chode,* chid 


chidden, chid 


choose 


chose, chase* 


chosen 


cleave (split) 


clove 
clave* 


cloven 




cleft 


cleft 


cling 


clung 


clung 


climb 


clomb 






climbed 


climbed 


cling 


clung 


clung 


come 


came 


come 


crow 


crew 


crown 




crowed 


crowed 


do 


did 


done 



VI.] 



LIST OF STRONG VERBS. 



59 



Pres. 


Past. 


Pass. Part. 


draw 


drew 


drawn 


drink 


drank 


drunk, drunken 


drive 


drove, drave* 


driven 


eat 


ate 


eaten 


fall 


fell 


fallen 


fight 


fought 


foughten,* fought 


find 


found 


found 


fling 


flung, flang* 


flung 


fly 


flew 


flown 


forbear 


forbore 


forborne 


forget 


forgot 


forgotten 




forgat* 


forgot* 


forsake 


forsook 


forsaken 


freeze 


froze 


frozen 
from, frore* 


get 


got, gat* 


got, gotten 


give 


gave 


given 


go 


•went 


gone 


grave 


graved 


graven 


en-grave 




en -graven* 




engraved 


engraved 


grind 


ground 


ground 


grow 


grew 


grown 


hang 


hung 


hung 




hanged 


hanged 


heave 


hove 






heaved 


heaved 


help 




holpen 




helped 


helped 


hew 




hewn 




hewed 


hetved 


hold 


held . 


held, holden 


know 


knew 


known 


lade 




laden, loaden 




laded 


laded 


lie 


lay 


lain, lien* 



60 PRIMER 


OF ENGLISH 


GRAMMAR, [chap- 


Pres. 


Part. 


Pass. Part. 


lose 




lorn, forlorn 




lost 


lost 


melt 




molten 




melted 


melted 


mow 




mown 




mowed 


mowed 


ride 


rode, rid* 


ridden, rid* 


ring 


rang, rung* 


rung 


rise 


rose 


risen 


rive 




riven 




rived 


rived 


run 


ran 


run 


see 


saw 


seen 


seethe 


sod 


sodden, sod* 




seethed 


seethed 


shake 


shook 


shaken 


shave 


shaved 


shaven, shaved 


shear 


sheared, shore* 


shorn, sheared 


shine 


shone 


shone 




shined 


shined* 


shoot 


shot 


shot, shotten* 


shrink 


shrank 


shrunk 




shrunk* 


shrunken 


sing 


sang, sung* 


sung 


sink 


sank 


sunk, sunken 


sit 


sat 


sat, sitten* 


slay 


slew 


slain 


slide 


slid 


slid, slidden 


sling 


slung, slang* 


slung 


slink 


slunk 


slunk 


smite 


smote, smit* 


smitten, smit* 


sow 




sown 




sowed 


sowed 


speak 


spoke, spake * 


spoken 


spin 


spun, span* 


spun 


spring 


sprung, sprang* 


sprung 



VI.] 


LIST OF STRONG 


VERBS. 61 


Pres. 


Past. 


Pass. Part> 


stand 


stood 


stood 


steal 


stole, stale* 


stolen 


sting 


stung, stang* 


stung 


stink 


stank 


stunk 


stride 


strode, strid* 


stridden 


strike 


struck 


struck 
stricken 


strive 


strove 


striven 


swear 


swore 
sware* 


sworn 


swell 


swelled 


swollen, swelled 


swim 


swam, swum* 


swam 


swing 


swung 


swung 


take 


took 


taken 


tear 


tore, tare 


torn 


thrive 


throve 


thriven 




thrived 


thrived 


throw 


threw 


thrown 


tread 


trod 


trodden, trod 


wake 


woke 






xuaked 


waked 


weave 


wove 


woven 


win 


won, wan* 


won 


wind 


wound 


wound 


wring 


wrung, wrang* 


wrung 


write 


wrote, writ* 


written 



62 



PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 



§ 75. Alphabetical List of Weak Verbs 
apparently irregular. 

Class I. 



Pres. 


Past. 


Pass. Part. 


bereave 


bereft 


bereft 




bereaved* 


bereaved* 


beseech 


besought 


besought 


bring 


brought 


brought 


burn 


burnt 


burnt 


buy 


bought 


bought 


catch 


caught 


caught 


cleave 


cleft 


cleft 


creep 


crept 


crept 


deal 


dealt 


dealt 


dream 


dreamt 


dreamt 




dreamed 


dreamed 


dwell 


dwelt 


dwelt 


feel 


feel 


felt 


flee 


fled 


fled 


have 


had 


had 


hide 


hid 


hid, hidden 


keep 


kept 


kept 


kneel 


knelt 


knelt 


lay- 


laid 


laid 


lean 


leant 


leant 




leaned 


leaned 


learn 


learnt 


learnt 




learned 


learned 


leap 


leapt 


leapt 


leave 


left 


left 


lose 


lost 


lost 


make 


made 


made 


mean 


meant 


meant 


pay 


paid 


paid 



vi.] 



LIST OF WEAK VERBS. 



63 



Pres. 


Past. 


Pass. Part. 


pen 


pent 


pent 




penned 


penned 


rap (to transport) 


rapt 


rapt 


rot 


rotted 


rotten 
rotted 


say 


said 


said 


seek 


sought 


sought 


sell 


sold 


sold 


shoe 


shod 


shod 


sleep 


slept 


slept 


spell 


spelt 


spelt 


spill 


spilt 


spilt 


stay 


staid 


staid 


sweep 


swept 


swept 


teach 


taught 


taught 


tell 


told 


told 


think 


thought 


thought 


weep 


wept 


wept 


work 


wrought 


wrought 




worked 


worked 



Class II. 



Pres. 


Past 


Pass. Part. 


bend 


bent 


bent 
bended 


bleed 


bled 


bled 


breed 


bred 


bred 


build 


built 


built 


. cast 


cast 


cast 


clothe 


clad 


clad 




clothed 


clothed 


cost 


cost 


cost 


cut 


cut 


cut 



6 4 



PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 



Pres. 


Past 


Pass. Part. 


feed 


fed 


fed 


gild 


gilt 


gilt 




gilded 


gilded 


gird 


girt 


girt 


[wend] 


went 


see p. 5a 


hit 


hit 


hit 


hurt 


hurt 


hurt 


knit 


knit 


knit 


lead 


led 


led 


let 


let 


let 


light 


lit 


lit 




lighted 


lighted 


meet 


met 


met 


put 


put 


put 


read 


read 


read 


rend 


rent 


rent 


rid 


rid 


rid 


send 


sent 


sent 


set 


set 


set 


shed 


shed 


shed 


shred 


shred 


shred 


shut 


shut 


shut 


slit 


slit 


slit 


speed 


sped 


sped 


spend 


spent 


spent 


spit 


spit, spat 


spit 


split 


split 


split 


spread 


spread 


spread 


sweat 


sweat 


sweat 


thrust 


thrust 


thrust 


wet 


wet 


wet 




wetted 


wetted 


whet 


whet 


whet 




whetted 


whetted 



VI.] 



ANOMALOUS VERBS. 



65 



§ 76. ANOMALOUS VERBS. 
To Be. 

Indicative Mood. 







Presejit Tense. 






Singular. 






Plural. 


I. 


I a-m 




I. 


We are 


2. 


Thou ar-t 




2. 


Ye, you are 


3- 


He is 




3- 


They are 






Past Tense. 






Singular. 






Plural. 


I. 


I was 




1. 


We were 


2, 


Thou was-t 




2. 


Ye, you were 


3- 


He was 




3- 


They were 




Subjunctive Mood. 






Present Tense. 






Singular. 






Plural. 


1. 


I be 




1. 


We be 


2. 


Thou be 




2. 


Ye, you be 


3- 


Hebe 




3- 


They be 






Past Tense. 






Singular. 






Plural. 


1. 


I were 




1. 


We were 


2. 


Thou were, 


* wer-t 


2. 


Ye, you were 


3- 


He were 




3- 


They were 




- 


* Arc 


haic. 





66 



PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 



Imperative Mood. 

Singular— he (thou). Plural— -be (ye, you). 

Infinitive, to be. Present Participle, be-*Vag. 

Passive Participle, bee-#. 

Can. 

Indicative Mood. 

Present Tense. 

Plural 



Singular. 
i. I can 

2. Thou can-st 

3. He can 

Singular. ■ 

1. I cou-\-d 

2. Thou cou-\-d-sX 

3. He QOM-\-d 



Past Tense. 



1. We can 

2. Ye, you can 

3. They can 

Plural. 
We co\i-\-d 
Ye, you cou-1-*/ 
They cou-l-</ 



Shall. 

Indicative Mood. 
Present Tense. 



Singular. 
i. I shall 

2. Thou shal-t 

3. He shall. 

Singular. 
i. I should 

2. Thou should 

3. He should 



Past. 



PluraL 
i. We shall 

2. Ye, you shall 

3. They shall 

Plural 

1. We should 

2. Ye, you should 

3. They should 



VI.] 



ANOMALOUS VERBS. 



67 



Will, 

Indicative Mood. 



Present Tense. 



Singular. 

1. I will 

2. Thou wil-t 

3. He will 

Singular. 

1. I wouW 

2. Thou woul-*/ 

3. He woul-</ 



PluraL 
i. We will 

2. Ye, you will 

3. They will 



Past. 



Plural. 
i. We woul-</ 

2. Ye, you woul-d? 

3. They woul-*/ 



May. 

Indicative Mood. 
Present Tense. 



Singular. 
i. I may 

2. Thou may-est, may-st 

3. He may 



Plural. 

1. We may 

2. Ye, you may 

3. They may 



Past Tense. 



Singular. 

1. I migh-/ 

2. Thou migh-/-est, 

migh-/-st 

3. He migh-t 



Plural. 

1. We migh-/ 

2. Ye, you migh-/ 

3. They migh-/ 



68 



PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 



Owe. 

Indicative Mood. 
Present Tense. 



Singular. 

1. I owe 

2. Thou owe-St 

3. He owe-s 



Plural. 

1. We owe 

2. Ye, you owe 

3. They owe 



Past Tense. 



Singular. 

1. I ough-/ 

2. Thou ough-/-est 

3. He ough-/ 



Plural. 

1. We ough-/ 

2. Ye, you ough-/ 
8. They ough-/ 



Dare. 

Indicative Mood. 



Present Tense. 



Singular. 

1. I dare 

2. Thou dar-est, dar-st 

3. He dare, dare-s 



Plural. 
i. We dare 
2. Ye, you dare 
2. They dare 



Singular. 

1. I durs-/ 

2. Thou durs-/ 

3. He durs-/ 



Past Tense. 

Plural. 

i. We durs-/ 

2. Ye, you durs-/ 

3. They durs-/ 



vi.] ANOMALOUS VERBS. 69 


Have. 


Present Tense. 


Singular. 
i. I have 


Plural, 
i. We have 


2. Thou ha-st 


2. Ye, you have 


3. Heha-s, ha-th 


3. They have 


. Past Tense. 


Singular. 
1. I ha-*/ 


Plural 
1. We ha-d 


2. Thouha-*/-st 


2. Ye, you ha-*/ 


3. He ha-*/ 


3. They ha-*/ 


Imperative Mood. 


Singular — have (thou). Plural — have (ye, you) 


Infinitive, to have. Present Participle, hav-wsg. 


Passive Participle, ha-*/. 


Do. 


Prese?it Tense. 


Singular. 
I. I do 


Plural. 
1. We do 


2. Thou do-st, do-est 


2. Ye, you do 


3. Hedoe-s,do-tJbL,do-eth 3. They do 


Past Tense. 


Singular. 

i. I did 


Plural 

1. We did 


2. Thou did-St 

didd-est 


2. Ye, you did 


3. He did 


3. They did 



70 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 

Imperative Mood. 

Singular — do (thou). Plural — do (ye, you). 

Infinitive, to do. Present Participle, do-ing. 
Passive Participle, &o-ne. 

§ 77. Remarks on Anomalous Verbs. 
1. Be. 

1. Am, art, is, are, are formed from an obsolete root as 
to be. The m in am is identical with the pronoun me. 

2. ^A7as is the past tense of the old strong verb wes-an, to be. 
The r in were represents an older s. 

3. Bee-n shows that the old verb be was a strong verb. 

4. We sometimes find, as late as the 17th century, the verb 
be conjugated fully in the Present Indicative. 

Plural. 



Singular. 

1. I be 

2. Thou bee-st, be'st 

3. He be [be-th, be-eth] 



1. We be-n, bi-n, be 

2. Ye be-n, bi-n, be 

3. They be-n, bi-n, be 



5. When the verb is = exists, lives, it is not to be parsed as an 
auxiliary verb (see § 66, p. 46). 

2. Can. 

This verb once signified "to know," "to be able," cp. to con, 
cunning; uncouth. 

Could. This form is weak. The / has crept in from false 
analogy to should and would. 

3. Shall. 

I. "I shall" once meant "I owe," "I am bound to," "I 
ought," "I must." It still has this sense in the second and 
third persons. It is seen more plainly in such expressions as, 
"you should be kind to one another." 



vi.] ANOMALOUS VERBS. 71 

2. Shall is only an auxiliary of the future in the first person, 
and in interrogative sentences in the second person ; as, "shall 
you go." It is an independent verb in the second and third 
persons. 

3. Should is a weak past form. When it means ought it 
must be parsed as an independent verb. It sometimes has a 
present tense. In such expressions as "should you see him" 
(= if you see him) = "if you shall see him," should must be 
parsed as subjunctive past, used with the force of a present tense. 

4. Will. 

'Will once meant " to desire" "wish." 

It is used as a sign of the future in the second and third per- 
sons. It is an independent verb in the first person, and expresses 
determination or purpose. 

Won't = wol not contains the Middle English form of will. 

Would is a weak past tense, like should. 

When will means to desire, exercise the will, it is conjugated 
regularly. Wilt in this sense is often found for wiliest. 

5. May. 

May once meant "to be able" (cp., "Do what I may, I cannot 
please him "). It expresses also permission. 

It must be parsed as an independent and not as an auxiliary 
verb. 

In such expressions as " may they be happy," " teach me that 
I may be able to learn," may is in the subjunctive mood. 

Might is a weak past tense. It preserves the g of may, O.E. 
m<zg. 

6. Must. 

Must is the past tense of an old verb, mot "to be able," "be 
obliged." It expresses necessity, and is now used with a present 
and future tense. 



72 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 



7. Ought. 

Ought is the past tense of the verb owe. It has now a 
present as well as a past meaning when used to express duty, 
obligation. 

Owe originally meant "to nave," " to own," hence "to have 
as a duty. " 

When owe means " to have to pay" " to be in debt" it is con- 
jugated regularly: as, (1) owe, (2) owesr, (3) owes ; past tense, 
owed. 

8. Durst. 

Durst is the old past tense of dare. When dare means to 
challenge, it is conjugated regularly, and has dared for its past 
tense and passive participle. 

9. Wit. 

The old verb to wit, " to know," makes its present tense wot ; 
its past tense is wist. These forms are used in the English 
Bible. To wit is the old dative infinitive, now used as an 
adverb. 

10. Have. 

Hast = hai/st = havest. 
Hath = hav'th = haveth. 
Has = hav's = haves. 
Had =hav'd = haved. 

11. Do. 

Did is not a weak form, like had, but a strong verb, being 
originally the reduplicated perfect tense of do, cp. Lat. dedi. 

It is used as (1) a tense auxiliary in negative and interro- 
gative sentences; as, " I do not believe it ;" " Do you believe it ?" 
(2) To express emphasis : " I do believe that he did do it." 



vi.] AUXILIARY VERBS. 73 

12. Go. 

Go has lost its true past tense. We supply its loss by the 
verb went, the old past tense of wend, "to turn." 

Gone shows that go was originally a strong verb, cp. done. 

13. Let, in " let me go," is the imperative mood of the verb 
let, to allow, permit. 

14. The subjunctive mood of anomalous verbs, with the excep- 
tion of the verb "&> be" has no suffixes to mark person. 

Auxiliary Verbs. 

§ 78. The auxiliary verbs used for forming tenses are 
be, have, shall, will, do. The verb to be is used for 
forming the passive voice. To conjugate the verb in 
all its parts, see tables, p. 47 and pp. 56, 57. 



74 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 



CHAPTER VII. 

ADVERBS. 

I. DEFINITION. 

§ 79. An Adverb is a word that modifies the mean- 
ing of a verb, adjective ', or other adverb. (See page 13.) 

II. CLASSIFICATION. 
Adverbs may be divided into the following classes : 

1. Adverbs of time. When? Then, now, often, 
soon, &c. 

2. Adverbs of place. Where? Here, there, 
whither, &C. 

3. Adverbs of manner. Howl (1) Well, ill, 
badly. Degree, quality ; (2) little, much, quite, 
very. Affirmation, negation ; (3) yes, indeed, 
no, not. 

4. Adverbs of cause and effect. Why ? 
therefore, thence, wherefore, whence, 6°<r. 






vii.] ADVERBS: INFLEXIONS, 75 

III. INFLEXIONS. 

§ 80. Comparison of Adverbs. 



well 


better 


best 


ill 


worse 


worst 


much 


more 


most 


forth 


further 


furthest 


far 


farther 


farthest 


late 


later 


last 


[rathe] 


rather 


rathest 



See Adjectives, § 38, p. 30. 
§ 81. Adverbs are formed from other parts of speech. 

1. Nouns and Adjectives : — 

needs (of necessity); noways, always, unawares, 
on-ce, whils-t. This s is an old genitive 
suffix. Whil-om and seld-om contain an old 
dative ending. 

2. Pronouns : — 

w he-re, whe-n — , whence; why, the-re, the-n, &c. ? 
he-re, &c. 

3. Nouns or Adjectives compounded with a pre- 
position : — 

an-on [at once),a-bed, a-broad,of kin, of late, of old, 
to-day, de-times, or by turns. 



76 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

PREPOSITIONS. 

I. DEFINITION. 

§82. Prepositions join words to mark certain 
relations. See p. 13. 

By means of prepositions we are able to express the relation 
of things to other things, or the relation of things to their actions 
or attributes. The most common relations expressed by pre- 
positions are place, time, manner, cause. 

A preposition joins a noun {ox pronoun) 

(1) to another noun (or pronoun) ; There is a 
book on the table. 

(2) to an adjective; He is fond of his book. 

(3) to a verb ; John goes to school in time. 

II. CLASSIFICATION. 
83. Prepositions are either simple or compound. 
1. Simple : — 

at, by, for, in, of, off, out, to, up, with. 



viii.] PREPOSITIONS. 77 

2. Compound : — 

(i) af-ter, ov-er, un-der, throu-gh, b-ut, a-b-oat, 
a-b-ove, un-to, in-to, be-hind, with-in, out of,fro-m, 
for-th. 

(2) a-mong, a-gain, a-head, beside, in spite of, 
a-thwart, be-twixt, a-round. 

(3) From verbs (participles) : owing to, notwith- 
standing, except, save. 

Nigh, near, nearer, next, are sometimes used as prepositions. 
Past, the passive participle of the verb pass, is a preposition 
in " I went past the church." 



78 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. ix. 



CHAPTER IX. 
CONJUNCTIONS. 

I. DEFINITION. 
§ 84. Conjunctions join sentences. See p. 13. 

Sometimes they join two independent words together ; as, 
"three and three make six." 

II. CLASSIFICATION, 
§ 85. Conjunctions are of two kinds : — 

1. Co-ordinate Conjunctions, which join two 
independent sentences : and, either, or, neither, ?wr, 
but. 

2. Subordinate Conjunctions, which join a prin- 
cipal sentence to another that depends upon it for 
its full meaning : for, because, since, as, if, unless, lest, 
that. 

Some conjunctions are used in pairs, and are called correlatives : 
both — and, what — and, as well — as, either — or, &*c. 

We use many compound expressions as conjunctions : 

like wise, in order that, to the end that, so that, how be it, 
although, albeit, nevertheless. 

See Analysis of Sentences, p. 101. 



chap, x.] INTERJECTIONS. 79 



CHAPTER X. 



INTERJECTIONS. 



§ 86. Interjections, being mere exclamations, do not 
stand in grammatical relation to any other word in 
the sentence. Oh ! Alas ! 

Many interjections are phrases cut short ; as, good- 
bye ! = God be with you; marry I = the Virgin 
Mary; wassail '= was (be) hale (healthy) ; cp., hail I 
all hail 1 welcome 1 adieu ! 

Many adverbs, prepositions, and even verbs, are used 
as interjections : how ! well ! out ! look ! behold J 



So PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 



CHAPTER XL 
WORD-MAKING. 

§ 87. A word that cannot be reduced to a simpler 
form is called a root ; as, man, good, drink. 

§ 88. Particles added to the end of the root are 
called suffixes ; as, man-/y, good-//m, drink-ing. 

Suffixes are said to form derivatives ; as, man-Ty, 
is derived from man. 

§ 89. Particles placed before the root are called 
prefixes ; as, #«-man-ly, mis-deed, &c 

Prefixes are used to form compounds ; a.s, for-bid, 
gain-say, &c. 

Prefixes were once independent words. Many of them are 
still so used: cp., mis-take = take a-miss ; /ore-know, know 
before, wwokr-stand, &c. 

§ 90. Compounds are also formed by putting two 
words together ; as, black-bird, ink-stand. 

§ 91. Besides English suffixes we have very man^ 
others that we have borrowed from French, Latin, and 
Greek. 

§ 92. These suffixes mark different notions and 
relations. Some denote the doer or agent ; others 
form abstract nouns ; a few express diminution or 
augmentation. 



xi.] ENGLISH SUFFIXES. 81 

English Suffixes. 

§93. I. NOUNS. 
i. The Agent : 

-er (~ar, -or) 5 bak-er, do-er, begg-ar, li-ar, 

sail-or, cloth-i-<fr, law-y-<?r. 
-en ; (fem.) vix-en. 

-ster ; (fem.) spinster. It merely marks the 
agent in song-j-/<?;', maltster. 

2. Abstract Nouns, marking state, action, con- 
ditio?i, being, &c. : 

-dom 5 wis-dom, king-dom. 
-hood, -head ; god-head, man-hood. 
-ing ; \caxx\-ing, writ-z'ng. 
-ness ; good-ness, daik-ness. 
-red ; hat-red, kind-raf. 
-ship ; friend-jv^, lordship. 
-th, -t 5 hea\-th, steal-th, bread-//*, dep-th, 
wid-th, heigh-/, drif-/, sigh-/. 

3. Diminutives : 

-en 5 chick-^/z. 

-ing ; farth-*/^, tith-ing, shiW-ing, whit-ing, 

wild-ing. 
-ling ; duck-ting, gosding. 
-kin 5 IsLmb-h'n, nav-kin. 

§94. II. ADJECTIVES. 

-ed (like having) : wretch-^ boot-ed, letter-^/, 
-en {made of) : gold-<f«, \vood-<f/z. 



82 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 

-ful [full of) : truth-/*/, fearful. 

-ish {somewhat like) : girl-/V//, whit-ish. 

-ly (like) : god-/y, good-/y, love-Zy. 

-like : %oo\-like, wax-like. 

-less (without) : shame-/m, house-to. 

-y {pertaining to, abounding in) : hi\\-y, stormy. 

-some (full of) : game-some, win-some. 

-ward (turning to) : iro-ward, %onth-ward % 

-teen, -ty (ten) ; nine-teen, twen-ty. 

-th (order) : six-t/i, seven-t/i. 

-fold (folded) : two-fold, many-fold. 

-ern (direction to) : ea.st.-ern, north-em. 

§95. III. ADVERBS. 

-ly (like) : god-/y, bad-/)', on-ly. 

-ling, -long (= -wise, -ways) ; Rat-ling, head-long, 
sio\e-long. 

-meal (division) : \imb-meal, piece-meal. 

-ward, -wards (turning to) : hither-ward, up- 
wards. 

-wise (manner, mode) : otherwise, no-7vise, like- 
wise. 

-way, -ways : aYways, straight-?^)'. 

-s, -ce, -st : need-j-, twi-r<?, besides, whiWA 

-n : whe-«, the-n, the-«-ce, he-//-ce. 

-om : selcX-om, whikw. 

-re : whe-re, the-re, he-re. 

-ther : whi-ther, thi-ther, hi-ther. 

(Seep. 75.) 



XL] ENGLISH SUFFIXES. 83 

§ 96. IV. VERBS. 

1. Frequentative: 

-k : tal-/£, har-/£, stal-& 

-le, -1 : dibb-le, spark-/<f, start-/*?, knee-/. 

-er : linger, flitter, falter. 

2. Causative (making) : 

-en, -n : fatt-en, short-*?;/, length-^, lear-« 

Some few Causative Verbs are formed from Intran- 
sitive Verbs by vowel-change : 

Intransitive. Transitive, 
fall, fell, 

sit, set, 

rise, raise, 

&c. &c 

§ 97- Compounds. 

Two words may be joined together to make a new 
word, as rail-road, steam-boat, &c. 

The accent of the true compound is on the first syllable ; e.g., 
A crow is a black bird but not a blackbird. 

The hyphen is used in writing to mark a compound ; as, 
passer-by, coast-line. 

I. NOUN COMPOUNDS. 

i. Adjective -f Noun : black-bird, blue-bell. 

2. Noun or Pronoun -f Noun : noon-tide, shoe-maker, 
hearts ease, he-goat. 

3. Noun + verb : tell-tale, scare-crow, dare-devil. 



84 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR. [chap. 

II. ADJECTIVE COMPOUNDS 

i. Noun + Adjective : sky-blue, blood-red, foot-sore, 
sea-sick, heart-rending, heart-broken. 

2. Adjective + Noun : bare-foot. 

3. Adjective Adjective : blue-green, red-hot, tircC- 
made, fai?--haired, six-sided. 

III. VERB COMPOUNDS. 

1. Noun + Verb : back-bite, way -lay. 

2. Adjective + Verb : white-wash, rough-hew. 

3. Verb + Adverb : doff (-do off), don, (-do on). 

For Adverb Compounds see p. 75. 

§ 98. English Prefixes. 

A- (on, in) : a-hed, #-shore, a-o-ont. 

A- (out of, from) : tf-rise, #-wake, a-go. 

A- (of, off) : a-kin, a-new, #-do\vn. 

After- (following) : after-noon, after-ward. 

Al- (all) : al-one, lone, al-most, also. 

At- (to) : at-one, at-onement. 

Be- (by) : (1) It forms transitive and intransitive 
verbs : fo-speak, fo-think, be-dew, besmear. 

(2) It forms a part of some nouns, adverbs, and 
prepositions : be-half, be-quest, be-\ow, be-neath, &-sides, 
b-ut 

For- (through, thorough) : for -swear, for-get, for- 
bear. 

Fore- (before) : fore-cast, fore-tell 



XI.] LATIN AND FRENCH SUFFIXES. 85 

Forth- : forth-eon\\ng, for-waxd. 

Gain- (against) : gain-say (cp., contra-diet). 

In- : in-come, in-land, in-lay, in-to. 

Mis- (amiss) : mis-deed, mis-lead, mis-take. 

Of- ( = off, from) : of-fal, off-soring. 

On- : on-set, on-ward. 

Out- : out-cast, out-let, out-side, out-landish. 

Over- (above, beyond, too) : over-eating, over-flow, 
over-hear, over- coat. 

To- (to, for) : to-day, &-night, to-gether, to-ward, 
un-^-ward. 

Un- (not) : un-tme, un-tmth, un-wise. 

Un- (back) : zm-do, un-bolt, un-tie. 

Under- : under-go, zmder-mine, under-hand, under- 
ling, under-neath. 

Up- : «/-hold, up-shot, ///-right, #/-ward, ztp-on. 

With- (against, back) : with-draw, with-hold. 

§ 99. Latin and French Suffixes. 

I. NOUNS. 

1. Agent : 

-ain, -an : librari-<z#, vill-ain, artis-tf/z. 

-ard : dmnk-ard, dull-ard, wiz-ard. 

-ee : tn\st-ee, devot-<?<?. 

-eer, -ier : engin-^r, brigad-zVr. 

-our, -er \ 

-or ( emper-^r, govem-our, preach-^r, 

-tor C Tohb-er t act-or, doctor. 

-sor / 



86 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR. [chap. 

-trix (fern.) : execu-trix, testa-trix. 

-ess : (fern.) : lion-ess, song-str-m. 

-ive : czpt-ive, fugit-ive. 

-iff : cv,\x-iff, plaint-/^ 

-ant, -ent : m^rch-ant, gi-ant, stud-ent. 

-ist : evangel-/.^, novel-/V/. 

-ite, -it': Israel-/^, Jesu-//. 

2. Abstract Nouns (see p. Si) : 

-age : cour-age, hom-ag?, marri-ag?. 

-ance, -ence : endur-ance, obeis-ance, obedi- 

ence, purvey-tf;zr<f, ndd-ance. 
-ancy, -ency : bn\\\-a?icy, cxczM-ency. 
-ess, ice, ise : \axg-ess, i\ch-es, prow-tj\>\ 

merchand-/^, )\\st-ice. 
-son : benison, poison, ransom. 
-tion : benedic-//^, -po-tion, Tedemp-t/on. 
-sion : conversion, occasion, procession. 
-lence : pesii-lence, \\o-lence. 
-ment: command-;^///, enchant-;/^///, nourish- 

ment. 
-mony : mazri-mony, \.esi\-mo?iy. 
-our : col-our, fav-our, hon-our. 
-eur : grand-eur, Yiqu-cur. 
-ry, ery : chival-rv, jewel-ry, poet-ry, surg- 

ery, witch-*?;^. 
-tude : \ong\-tude f mu\i\-tude. 
-ty : bonn-ty, cruel-/)', i~ra\\-ty. 
-ure : creat-nre, vesi-ure, forfeit-z/n?. 
-y : felon-j', victory, miser-j'. 



XL] LATIN AND FRENCH SUFFIXES. 87 

3. Diminutives : — 

-aster : poet-aster. 

-el, le : pare-*/, dams-^/, cast-/*. 

-icle, cule : art-/*/*, part-zV/*, animal-*^/*. 

-ule : g\ob-u/e. 

-et, let : hatch-*/, lane-*/, pock-<?/, brace-/*/, 

stream-/*?/. 
-ette : etiqu-<?//*, coqu-<?//*. 

II. ADJECTIVES. 

-al : loy-#/, xoy-al, equ-a/. 

-an, -ain : cert-am, hum-an. 

-ane : hum-ane. 

-ant, ent : en-ant, mmp-anf, pati-<?«/. 

-ary : eontr-tf/7, necess-tfry, honorary. 

-ate : consider-^/*, desol-<z/£, priv-#/*. 

-Lie, -able : sta-£/*, iee-ble, mov-ab/e, favour- 

#£/*, laugh-able, eatable (edi-b/e). 
-ese : Chin-*r<?, Malt-*r*. 
-esque : burl-esaue, pictur-*jy#*. 
-ile : serv-//*, frag-//*. 
-il, -le : civ-//, fra-//, gent-/*. 
-ine : div-ine, infant-/^*. 
-ian : Austral-ian, Christ-/##. 
-ive : zct-tve, coexc-ive, sooxt-ive, talk-at-/z>*. 
-ose : verb-*.?*, ]oc-ose. 
-ous : danger-*^, gion-oiis, \eox-ous. 
-Jble : dou-ble, txe-ble. 
-pie : txi-ple, sim-//*. 



8S PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR. [chap. 

III. VERBS. 

-ate : a\\en-ate, assassin-^ accentual, 
-ish : flour-w^, nour-i's/i, pun-uA. 
-fy : magni-^', signi-J}', simplify. 

§ ioo. Greek Suffixes. 

I. NOUNS. 

-ic : log-/<r, mus-ic. 

-ism : fataWjw, barbar-/j7#, magnet-/V;«. 

-sy : drop-.ry, paWj/. 

-sis : paraly-j7>. 

-y : monarchy. 

-isk (diminutive) : aster-/jv£, obel-t'sk. 

II. VERBS. 

-ise, -ize : civil-/V<f, fertil-/.sv?, anathemat-/"^. 

§ 101. Latin and French Prefixes. 

A-, ab-, abs- (away, from) ; ^-normal, abdicate, 
czfo-tract, fl^j-stain, #-vert, #-d-vance, &c. 

Ad- (to) : 

By assimilation ad becomes ac-, a/-, dg-, al-, am-, an-, ap-, 
ar-, as-, at-. 

ad-)om, ad-vert, d^-cept 
Ante- (before): tf«&-chamber, a;//^-date. 
Bene- (well) : bene-t\t. 

Bi- (two), bis- (twice) : &"-ennial, £/-ped, bis<n\t. 
Circum-, circu- (around): circumstance, circu -it. 



xi.] LATIN AND FRENCH PREFIXES. 89 

Com-, con-, co- (with) : 

By assimilation, col-, com-, cor-. 

com-mand, con-tend, ^-eternal, collect, cor-iect. 

Contra-, Counter- (against) : contra-diet, counter- 
act, counterfeit. 

De- (down) : de-part, descend, de-form. 

Dis-, di- (asunder, not) : d/s-cord, dfo-honour, dis- 
please, di's-like, dif-ier. 

Demi- (half) : demi-god. 

Ex-, e- (out of, from) : £#-alt, ^-lect, *ap-mayor. 

Extra- (beyond) : extra-ordinary, extra-work. 

In-, en-, em- (in, into, on), with verbs : z>/-vert, 
im-pose, //-lumine, ^z-rich, en-dear- } em-ba\m, m-bolden. 

In- (not) : zVz-cautious, //-legal, im-rjiety, /r-regular. 

Inter-, intro- ) / • t t,-\ f inter-course, intro-duce. 

Enter- f \ enter-tain, enter-prise. 

Male-, mal- (ill, badly) : male-factor, ma/-treat. 

Mis- (from Lat. minus, less) : mis-cniei, mis-iortune. 

Non- (not) : non-sense, non-existent. 

Ob- (in front of, against) : od-]ect, oc-cupy, of-ier, 
0^-pose. 

Par-, Per- (through) : per-force, pe7'-spwe, per-)ure, 
par-don, pe/-\ucid, pollute. 

Post- (after) : post-date, post-script. 

Pre- (before,) : pre-dict, pre-iace. 

Pur (forth) : pur-cnase, pur-vey. 

Pro- (forward, forth, for) : /reject, pro-pose, pro- 
noun. 

Re- (back, again) : reclaim, rejoin, 7^-act, re-new. 
9 



90 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR. [chap. 

Retro- (backward) : retrospect, retro-grade. 
Se- (apart, away) : j^-clude, .separate, W-ition. 
Semi- (half) : semi-circle. 
Sub- (under) : j/^-ject, sue-cour, suf-fer, sug-gest, 

^-committee, sus-tain. 
Super, sur- (above, over, beyond) : supet -structure, 

sur-face, sur-pass. 
Subter- (beneath) : sufrter-fuge. 
Trans- (across) : trans-ngnre, trans-form. 
Tra-, tres- (across): tra-verse, tres-pass. 
Ultra- (beyond) : ultra-liberal, ultra-marine. 
Vice-, vis- (instead of) : vice-regent, vis-count, 
vice-roi. 

§ 102. Greek Prefixes. 

Amphi- (about, on both sides) : tf;////«-theatre, 
amphi-bioMS. 

An-, a- (not, without ; like English un-) : an-archy t 
0-pathy. 

Ana- (up to, again, back) : ana-tomy, ana-logy. 

Anti-, ant- (opposite to, against) : anti-christ, 
ant-arctic. 

Apo- (away from, from) : apo-logy, apostrophe. 

Arch-, archi- (chief, head) : arc/i-heretic, arch- 
bishop, archi-tect. 

Auto- (self) : auto-graph, auto-biography. 

Cata-, cat- (down) : cata-ract, cat-hedral. 

Dia- (through) : dia-meter, dia-logue. 

Di- (in two) : ^//-syllable, di-phthong. 



XL] GREEK PREFIXES. 91 

Dys- (ill) : ^-peptic, ^-entery. 

Ec-, ex- (out, from) : £*-odus, ^-centric. 

En- (in) : ^/z-thusiasm, <?#z-phasis, ^/-lipsis. 

Eu- (well) : <?&-phony, ^-angelist. 

Epi- (upon, or) : ^/-tome, ^-och. 

Hemi- (half) : hemisphere. 

Hyper- (above, over, beyond) : /^/^-critical, hyper- 
bolical. 

Hypo- (under) : ^&?-crite, hypo-thesis. 

Meta- (after, across) : w^-morphosis, met-zphor, 
met-or\ymy. 

Mono- (single, alone) : mono-graph, mon-aichy. 

Pan- (all) : pan-the\st. 

Para- (beside) : para-phrase, para-h\e, par-ody. 

Peri- (around) : peri-meter, peri-phrases. 

Pro- (before) : pro-gramme, pro-logue. 

Syn- (with): syn-thesis, syn-tax, sympathy , syl- 
lable. - 



92 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 



CHAPTER XII. 

SYNTAX. 

§ 103. Syntax teaches us how words are put to- 
gether in a sentence. It treats of the right use of the 
parts of speech and their inflexions. 

The chief combinations of the Parts of Speech 
are : — 

1. A verb and its subject j as, "Time flies? 

2. An adjective and its noun ; as, "A good man" 

3. A verb and its object; as, "John hurt the 

dog." 

4. An adverb and the verb, adjective, or adverb 

to which it is joined. See examples on p. 13. 

The first, which shows the relation of the Predicate to its 
subject, is called Predicative combination. (See § u8, 
p. 101.) 

The second \s called Attributive combination. (See p. 103, 
for the different modes of expressing an attribute. ) 

The third is called Objective combination. (See pp. 42, 
104.) 

The fourth is called Adverbial combination. (See pp. 74, 
104, 10S.) 



xii.] SYNTAX. 93 

§ 104. 1. Verb and Subject. (See p. 104). 

1. A finite verb is in the same number and person 
as its subject ; as, 

/ think We think 

Thou think-est You think 

He thi?ik-s They think 

The verb must agree with its subject in number 
and person. 

/ thinks would be wrong, because / is of the first person and 
thinks of the third. 

The subject of a finite verb is said to be in the 
Nominative case. 

2. The verb to be takes a Nominative case after it as 
well as before it ; as, 

"He is a king;" 

" The king is a child." 
Some verbs are used like the verb to be in this respect ; as, 
"he became -a bankrupt j" "he seems an. idiot;" "he is called a 
poet ;" " he is made a knight." 

3. When two or more subjects in the singular 
number are joined together by the conjunction and, 
the verb must be put in the plural number; as, 
" John and William are good boys." 

4. Two or more singular subjects joined by or or 
nor take a verb in the singular number ; as, " John 
or William, or James is going with me." " Neither 
John nor William is going." 

(1) Or originally meant either (see p. 39). It implies any 
one of two, or an alternative. 



94 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 

(2) When two nouns are of different numbers or persons the 
verb must agree with the latter. "Either he or I am right." 
" Neither John nor his brothers have come.* 1 

5. When the subject is a collective and singular 
noun the verb is sometimes put into the plural ; 
" The jury were dismissed." " The multitude were 
divided." 

When the collective noun refers to a number of things con- 
sidered separately, then the verb should be in the plural number. 
If the objects denoted by the collective noun be regarded as a 
whole, the verb should be singular ; as, 

(1) The jury (each of them) were dismissed. 

(2) The council (as one body) has chosen its president. 

§ 105. 2. Adjective and Noun. 

1. When the adjective is used after the verb to be 
it is said to be used predicatively ; as, "The wound 
is mortal." When put close to the noun (before or 
after it) it is said to be used attributively; as, "He 
received a mortal wound." 

The adjective is used predicatively after the verbs become, seem, 
appear, turn, &c. (See p. 93.) 

2. A noun {or pronoun) used as an attribute to 
another noun, signifying the same thing, is said to be 
in apposition with it ; as, " William the Norman 
conquered England " (= " the Norman William con- 
quered England"). 

The word Norman is in apposition to William, and agrees 
with it in number and case. 

2. Sometimes the preposition of comes before the appositional 
word ; as, the county of Rutland = the county Rutland. 



xii.] SYNTAX. 95 

A noun {or pronoun) in the Possessive case stands 
in the relation of an attribute to another noun. 

Sometimes the preposition of marks the same re- 
lation as the sign of the possessive case (see p. 26.) 
" Eye of newt and toe of frog, 
Wool of bat and tongue of dog, 
Adder's fork and blind-zvorm 's sting, 
Lizard's leg and howlets wing." 

I iv. 1. 



§ 106. 3. Verb and Object. 
1. Direct Object. 

1. The direct object of a transitive verb is put in 
the Objective case ; as, " The lightning struck the tree 
and made it wither." (See p. 25.) 

2. The verbs teach, ask, forgive, tell, 6°<r., take two 
Objectives, one of a person and the other of a thing. 
" He taught his pupils history. " They asked him his 
name." 

The verbs to make, name, call, esteem, &c, take two 
Objectives of the same person or thing; as, "They 
made him king." " They called John a traitor." 

3. Intransitive verbs often take an objective case, 
akin in form or meaning to the veib itself: "He 
drea?ncd a, dream." " They went their way." 

The Objective case is sometimes used after intran- 
sitive verbs to express (1) time — how long? (2) space — 
how much ? " The battle lasted the whole day." " He 
slept three hours." " I walked two miles a day." 



96 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 

The Objective case follows some few impersonal 
verbs, as it did in Old English j as, it repents me; me 
lists ; it ails me; it irks me ; it recks me; it concerns 
us; it grieves me. 

2. Indirect Object. 

The Indirect Object comes after many transitive 
and intransitive verbs. It may be known by asking 
the question to or for whom or what? (See p. 25.) 
" He built me a house." " Give me my book." 

The Indirect object is used with the impersonal 
verbs, become, behove, please, likes, beseem, <5>r. ; cp., 
methlnks = it seems to me; methought = it seemed to 
me. " Good actions become us." " It behoved Christ 
to suffer." " If it please you; or, if you please." 

The Indirect object follows the adjective worth; as, 
" woe worth the day." In imitation of this we have, 
" woe is me •" "well is him." 

The words like (and unlike), nigh, near, next, are followed by 
the Indirect object. "He is like a giant." " He was near us." 

Many adjectives (as well as verbs) are followed by the 
preposition to, and the governed noun may be treated as the 
indirect object ; as, dear to, cruel to, fair to, similar to, obedient 
to, equal to. 

The adjectives worth and worthy (also unworthy) are sometimes 
followed by the Indirect Object; as, "it is not worth one's while." 

In O.E. these adjectives, like many others, governed the geni- 
tive case, cp. the adjectives, slow of, swift of, hard of, weary of 
worthy of, guilty of, fond of, proud of, ashamed of; and the verbs, 
think of, smell of, taste of, laugh at (originally laugh of). 

The genitive was once used with the adjectives long, high, 
broad, &c. ; as, " the box was six yards long, and six feet broad, 
and ten inches high ;" "the boy is two years old." 



xil] SYNTAX. 97 

§ 107. 4. Adverb and Verb, Adjective, 
or Adverb. 

Adverbs, as we have already seen (p. 74), are 
joined to verbs, adjectives, or adverbs, to express cer- 
tain relations of time, place, manner, cause, and effect. 

The adverb is not always a simple word. It is 
often (1) a phrase, (2) clause or sentence; as, 

1. " He went o?i shore." 

" He came down step by step. 11 

2. " The day having dawned we set out." 
" When the day dawned we set out." 

(See § 130, p. 108.) 

MISCELLANEOUS RULES. 

1. Pronouns. 

§ 108. The relative agrees with its antecedent in 
number and person ; as, " the boy who was late was 
punished ; " " He that is contented is happy \ " " O 
thou that leadest Israel." 

The relative does not always agree in case with its relative. 
" He whom we worship, by whose gift we live, is the Lord." 

As the relative introduces a new clause, its case must depend 
upon its relative in its own clause. In the example quoted 
above, whom is objective, because governed by the transitive 
verb worship. "Tell me whom I am" is wrong; it ought to 
be, "Tell me who I am." " Do you know who you speak to," 
ought to be, " Do you know whom," &c. 

§ 109. The Indefinite Pronouns, each, every, 
either, neither, are singular, and must be followed 
by a verb and pronoun in the singular. " Each person 
knows his own property." " Every bird tries to pro- 
tect its young." " Either of the two is to be taken." 



9S PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 

2. Verbs. 

§ no. The Indicative Mood states a positive 
fact, and is used in simple assertions and questions. 
(See p. 43.) 

§ in. The Subjunctive Mood is used to express 
a doubt, supposition, opinion. The inflected subjunc- 
tive has nearly gone out of use. It is still found 
after such conjunctions as if, unless, though, lest, till ; 
as " jf fortune serve me, I'll requite this kindness." 
" For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak." 
" Let me stand here till thou re?nember it." (See p. 43.) 

§ 112. Infinitive Mood. 
The Infinitive Mood is used after the verbs shall, 
will, may, can, must, dare, let, do, without the sign to 
before it ; as, " he can read" "he will talk." 

1. The infinitive without to occurs after the transitive verbs 
bid, niake, see, hear, feel. 

2. It is used after go ; cp., "go seek" which is sometimes 
changed to "go and seek." 

The gerundial infinitive is the infinitive with the 
preposition to {=for) before it, used after nouns and 
adjectives; as, "a house to let," " ready to go" "hard 
to tell." Here the infinitives are equal to verbal nouns 
with the preposition for ; as, to let = for letting, &c. 

The gerundial infinitive is also used to mark a pur- 
pose ; as, "What went ye out to seel" 

The gerundial infinitive is so called because it often corre- 
sponds to a gerund in Latin. 

The simple infinitive must be either in the nomi- 
native or objective case; as, "to err is human" (nom.)j 
" he began to err" (obj.). 



XII.] SYNTAX. 99 

§ 113. Participles. 

Participles in -ing and -ed are used as adjectives, 
and always refer to some noun in the sentence to 
which they belong. They may be used attributively 
or predicatively (see p. 45); as, "a loving mother/' 
" a drimken man ;" "a bruised reed." 

Participles {and Adjectives) with the before them are used as 
nouns ; as, "the living ;" "the dead ;" "the first begotten;" "the 
Lord's anointed." 

The Participle is sometimes used absolutely with 
the Nominative case before it; as, "The dawn appear- 
ing, we rose ;" " This done, Mazeppa spread his cloak. " 

The participle is said to be used absolutely because it stands in 
no grammatical relation to any other word in the sentence. 

The nominative before the participle is called the Nomina- 
tive absolute, because it agrees with no finite verb. 

§ 114. Verbal Nouns. 

Verbal Nouns in -ing. These must not be 
confounded with present participles in -ing. 

Verbal nouns are used either as nominatives or 
objectives. 

(1) The mending of the table will not take long. 

(2) The mending must be done at once. 

(3) The table wants mending. 

(4) The cost of mending the table will not be 
great. 



ioo PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 

The verbal noun mending in (4) seems to govern the noun 
table : but in older English the preposition of came between 
the verbal noun and the following noun, and the phrase would 
would have stood thus : " The cost of the mending of the table." 
See example (1), p. 99. 

In such phrases as, " The house is building" &c. ( = "the house 
is a-building"), the form in -ing is a verbal noun. 



3. Prepositions. 

§ 115. Prepositions are said to govern the objective 
case (see p. 25.) 

Notwithstanding, considering, respecting, &c, were once 
participles used absolutely (see p. 99). They have now got the 
force of prepositions. 

4. Conjunctions. 

§ 116. Conjunctions simply join sentences. They 
must be carefully distinguished from (1) Adverbs, 
(2) Prepositions. 

Some words, as save, except, but, ere, are used both 
as Conjunctions and Prepositions. 

But is used as three parts of speech (see p. 14). 

(1) "I cannot but believe." 

Here not but must be taken together as a compound 
Adverb = only. 

(2) In " There is no one but knows," but stands for the older 
English, that ne = that not. It must be parsed as a Conjunction. 

Cp., "No roof arose, but was open to the homeless stranger" 
= " No roof arose that was not" &c. 



xiii.] ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES. 



CHAPTER XIII. 
ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES. 

§ 117. A complete thought put into words is called 
a Sentence. 

Sentence (Lat., sententia) means judgment, sense. A complete 
sentence makes complete sense. Every sentence expresses either 
an assertion or a question, command, wish, &c. 

To analyse a sentence is to break it up into its separate parts. 

§ 118. Subject and Predicate. 

We can break up every sentence into two parts : — 

1. The name of that of which we speak. 

2. What is said about the thing spoken of: 

The name of that which is spoken of is called the 
Subject. 

What is said about the subject is called the 
Predicate. 

Subject. Predicate. 

Corn grows. 

Rain falls. 

Snow is white. 

Every sentence must contain these two parts. Sometimes the 
subject is omitted ; as, Go = go [thou]. 

Subject. Predicate, 

thou go 

10 



io2 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 

§ 119. The Subject. 

As the Subject names something that is spoken 
of, it must be : — 

1. A Noun. (See p. 17 for the various kinds of 
nouns.) 

2. Some word or words that may take the place 
and do the duty of a noun, as a Pronoun or 
a Sentence. 



Examples : — 






Subject. 




Predicate. 


Man 




is mortal. 


He 




is erring. 


He 




is in error. 


Erring 




is human. 


To err 




is human. 


That he 


erred 


is certain. 



An adjective with the definitive article is equivalent to a 
noun; as, "the dead" = " dead man;" cp., "the wise are 
respected." 

§ 120. The Enlarged subject. The simple 
subject is a word in the Nominative case. We may 
call this the gra?nmatical subject. 

Every noun, however, may have an adjective joined 
to it to qualify it. The noun with its adjective is 
called the enlarged subject ; as, 

(1) Sharp words give offence. 

(2) A virtuous man will be rewarded. 



Simple Subject. 

(1) Words 

(2) Man 



Enlargement. I Predicate. 
sharp I give offence, 

a, virtuous | will be rewarded. 



xiii. ] ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES. 103 



Enlarged Subject. 

(1) Sharp words 

(2) A virtuous man 



Predicate. 
give offence, 
will be rewarded. 



§ 121. Instead of adjectives we may use words, 
phrases, or sentences, to qualify or enlarge the sub- 
ject. These are called Attributes, and may be : — 

(1) A noun or pronoun in the possessive case ; 
as, " John's hat is lost ;" " his coat is torn." 

(2) An adjective phrase ; as, "A man of wisdom 
is respected ;" "A walk in the fields is pleasant;" 
" A desire to learn is to be encouraged." 

(3) An adjective sentence; as, "John, who is a 
carpenter, made this box." 

(4) A shortened adjective clause, called a noun 
in apposition ; as, "John, the carpenter, made 
this box." 

Participles, whether they come before or after the noun, are 
adjectives; as, "rolling stones gather no moss," or "stones, 
rolling continually, gather no moss." 

§ 122. The Predicate. 

The Predicate is that part of the sentence that 
makes a statement about the subject. It must there- 
fore contain the chief verb of the sentence. When the 
predicate is a single word it is a verb; as, "Dogs bark" 

The verb "to be," when it does not mean to live, or exist, 
cannot form a predicate. We must therefore join some word to 
it to make the predicate ; as, " the earth is round." 

Here we predicate of *he earth, roundness, not existence j 
cp., " The lion is a noble animal" 

Other verbs, like become, seem, &c, require another word after 
them to form the predicate. 



104 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 

§ 123. When the Predicate consists of more than a 
finite verb it may be called the Enlarged predicate; 
as, " The village master taught his little school" 

When the simple predicate is a transitive verb an 
object must of course be added (see § 59, p. 42). 

Subject. 1 Predicate. I Object. 

The village master | taught his little school. 

(1) The object must be a noun, or some word doing duty for 
a noun. See Subject, p. 102. 

Some verbs have two objects, (1) direct, (2) indirect ; as, 

Subject. Predicate. Object. 

They gave | him (indirect) a book (direct). 

Others have two direct objects : 

Subject. I Predicate. I Object. 

They J made him a king. 

Some writers on grammar call the object the Completion of the 
Predicate, or the Complement of the Predicate. 

§ 124. The verb may be qualified by an Adverb, or 
some word or words doing duty for an adverb. This 
addition to the predicate is called the Extension 
of the Predicate or Adverbial qualification of the Pre- 
dicate ; as, 



Subject. 


Predicate. 


Extension. 


He 


acted 


wisely. 


He 


acted 


in a wise manner. 


He 


acted 


as a wise man should act. 



XIII.] 



ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES. 



105 



§ 125. The Extensions are nothing else than ad- 
verbial adjuncts or qualifications of the Predicate, and 
they may be put into the same classes as Adverbs 
(see p. 74), according as they mark the when, where, 
how, and why of the Predicate. 

Examples : — 



Subject. 


Predicate. 


Object. 


Adverbial Adjuncts. 


The village - 

preacher's modest 

mansion 


rose 




near yonder copse 
(place). 


All 


met 




here (place) on a 

Sunday-eve 

(time). 


I 


knew 


him 


well (manner). 


He 


gave 


me a book 


yesterday (time). 


Swallows 


appear 




spring coming 
(time). 


He 


came 




to see me (cause). 



§ 126. The Compound Sentence. 



When a sentence contains only one subject and one 
finite verb it is called a Simple sentence. Two 



106 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 

simple sentences may be united together by a co- 
ordinate conjunction (see p. 78) to form a compound 
sentence ; as, "Birds fly andyfo// swim." 

Each member of the compound sentence makes 
complete sense by itself, and neither depends upon 
the other for its meaning. The second member of a 
compound sentence is said to be co-ordinate with the 
first. 

(1) Compound sentences may be contracted ; as, "John re- 
turned home and James returned home yesterday "= "John and 
James returned home yesterday." 

(2) And is often used to join two or more co-ordinate terms 
belonging to the same word in the sentence ; as, that new and 
expensive toy is spoilt. 

Subject. Predicate. 

That new and expensive toy I is spoilt. 

§ 127. The Complex Sentence. 

We have seen that a sentence may do duty for (1) a 
Noun, (2) an Adjective, (3) an Adverb. As such 
sentences depend upon another sentence called the 
Principal one, for their full meaning, they are hence 
called Subordinate sentences. Subordinate sen- 
tences are of three kinds, Substantival, Adjec- 
tival, and Adverbial. The principal sentence, 
with the subordinate part or parts, is called a Com- 
plex Sentence. 

In the complex sentence, "They lived unknown, till perse- 
cution dragged them into fame," the two sentences are : — 



xni. ] ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES. 107 

(1) " They lived unknown." 

(2) " Persecution dragg'd them into fame." 

Each sentence as it stands makes complete sense : but the full 
meaning of sentence two is not felt before it is joined and related 
to sentence one by the connecting word or conjunction till. 

1. Noun-Sentences. 

§ 128. A Substantival or noun sentence does the 
duty of a noim, and may be used as the subject or 
object of the verb in the principal sentence. It is 
sometimes introduced by the word that; as, (subject) 
" That Julius Ccesar invaded Britain is a well-known 
fact ;" (object) "he tried to prove that the earth is not 
round." 

Indirect questions are often objects; as, "Tell me who said 
so" " Ask him why he did so" "Can he explain how it is done." 

2. Adjective-Sentences. 

§ 129. The Adjectival sentence does the duty of 
an adjective, and qualifies some noun in the principal 
sentence. 

It is very often joined to the principal sentence by means of a 
relative pronoun or relative adverb. 

(1) At daybreak on a hill they stood that over- 
looked the moor. 

(2) And shall the audacious traitor brave 
The presence where our banners wave. 

In (1) the adjective sentence qualifies the noun hill in the 
principal sentence. 

In (2) the adjective sentence qualifies the noun presence in the 
principal sentence. Notice that where = in which. 



io8 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 

3. Adverb-Sentences. 

§ 130. The Adverbial sentence does the duty of 
an adverb, and modifies some verb, adjective, or adverb, 
in the principal sentence. 

The classification of adverbial sentences is the same 
as that of adverbs (see p. 74). Adverbial sentences 
are generally joined to the principal sentence by a 
subordi?iate conjunction (see p. 78). 

Examples : — 

" On Linden, when the sun was low, 
All bloodless lay the untrodden snow." 

" We went where the lions were kept." " He died as 
he had lived y "That man is as good as he is great." 
" He is taller than his brother." " The higher he 
climbs the more heavily he will fall." " The weather 
was so cold that I was nearly frozen. 19 



XIII.] 



ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES. 



109 



Is a 


there, at the 

foot of yonder 

beech (place) 

at noontide 

(time) 


.d'ST 
s a. 


s 


d 


^3 


2? 




u 

(L) j* 

is "S) 

2 




l§ 

75 






: 




s 


s 

•d 


2 <u « 




■s 


f 


0) 


.d 




"S 

£ 


a 
e 


id 

s 

M 


d 

<u 

d 

<u 

.& 

"0 

.s 


tf « ° 

lis 


■£ 

fs 

CI 

Oh S-l 

"o ° 

G 6 

1° 


"So--. 

G * J 3 
? > d 

d.J» 

< 


a 
"3 


-^•^ ;d 
w d e 


1/5 2 


2 

3 2 

<u,d 

fid 

"SI 

< p 

3& 


1 

3 



PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 



Adverbial 

Adjunct. 

(Extension of 

the Predicate) 










/ 


2? 

O 








si 

> •-" 


rt 


•3 


o 

V 

,4 


3 


4) 

o 

s 

o 

c 


| 


C 

o 
6 

'3 


3 


o 

>> 


73 


a 


o 


u 


c 
e 


8? 5 

!o3 

O rt 

'a ^° 

CO 3 


c5 ""^ 

c ^ 

o <u 

x> > 

CO o 


J2~ 
111 

rt 


•el 

£ 1 


si 

w3 


o 

c 
in 


(i) If you have 
seen a cat fall on a 
poor little mouse, 


u 

*o no 

« 3 

■6* 


13 

«■* o 
o 


3" 


lJ 

to <u 
•~ <u 

0^ 
^ cJ 

;§ 

C •/, 

.a "J 

3*1 



XIII.] 



ANALYSIS OF SENTENCES. 



fij 

<5 W 


: 


wholly (man- 
ner) from 

affection and 

good-will 

(cause) 


finding (cause) 
(= because he 

found) 
only (manner) 




O 


.■a 


: 




O ^H 

£ 
■5 ° 




g '3 .a 


■■§ 

p 
ft 


2 
0. 


t3 

J 


'J? 

3 


fcJO 

o 


"S .2 
c3 3 



a 


aj 


c 
a 
in 
o 

c 


"S o 


§ 5 .s 

C/3 o 




IE O "to 

C/3 O 


c 


(i) As soon as 

Sir Roger was 

acquainted with 

it, 


(2) that his ser- 
vant's indiscretion 
proceeded wholly 
from affection 

and good-will, 


band 

3^ 





ii2 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 

§ 132. MODEL OF GRAMMATICAL PARSING. 

I. Noun: — 1. Kind (Common, Proper) ; 2. Num- 
ber; 3. Gender ; 4. Case; 5. Syntax. 

II. Pronoun : — 1. Kind (Personal, Demonstra- 
tive, &c) ; 2. Person; 3. Number; 4. Gender ; 5. Case ; 
6. Syntax. 

III. Adjective :— 1. Kind; 2. Degree of Com- 
parison; 3. Function (attribute of). 

IV. Verb : — 1. Kind (Transitive, Intransitive) ; 

2. Conjugation (Strong, Weak) ; 3. Voice; 4. Mood; 
5. Tense; 6. Person; 7. Number ; 8. Syntax (agreeing 
with) ; 9. Parts; (Present, Past, Passive Participle). 

V. Adverb : — 1. Kind; 2. Degree of Comparison; 

3. Function (qualifying Verb, Adjective, or Adverb). 

VI. Preposition : — 1. Kind; 2. Function (joining 
a Noun to a Noun, &c). 

VII. Conjunction : — 1. Kind; 2. Function (join- 
ing two sentences co-ordinately or subordinately). 

Example. 

My father lived at Blenheim then, 

Yon little stream hard by ; 
They burnt his dwelling to the ground, 

And he was forced to fly. 

My ... Pronoun, personal, possessive, 1st person, 

singular number, common gender, attribute 
of father. 

father ... Noun, common, singular number, masculine 

gender, nominative case, subject of lived. 



XIII.] 



PARSING. 



113 



lived ... Verb, intransitive, weak conjugation, active 

voice, indicative mood, past tense, 3rd 
person, singular number, agreeing with its 
subject father. 
Parts : live, lived, lived. 

at ... Preposition, joining lived and Blenheim. + 

Blenheim ... Noun, proper, singular number, neuter gender, 

objective case, after at. 
then ... Adverb of time, qualifying the verb lived. 

Yon ... Pronoun, demonstrative, used as the attribute 

of stream, 
little ... Adjective of quality, positive degree, attribute 

of stream. 

stream ... Noun, common, singular number, neuter 

gender, objective case, governed by the 
compound preposition hard by. 

They ... Pronoun, demonstrative, 3rd person, plural 

number, common gender, nominative case, 
subject of burnt. 

burnt ... Verb, transitive, strong conjugation, active 

voice, indicative mood, past tense, 3rd 
person, plural number, agreeing with its 
subject they. Parts : burn, burnt, burnt. 

his ... Pronoun, demonstrative, possessive, 3rd per- 

son, singular number, masculine gender, 
attribute of dwelling. 

dwelling ... Noun, common, singular number, neuter 

gender, objective case, governed by the 
transitive verb burnt. 

to ... Preposition, joining burnt and ground. 

the ... Adjective, demonstrative, attribute of ground. 

ground ... Noun, common, singular number, neuter gen- 

der, objective case, after the preposition to. 



114 PRIMER OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR, [chap. 

And ... Conjunction, co-ordinate, joining the two sen- 

tences, "They burnt," &c., to "He was 
forced to fly." 

he ... Pronoun, demonstrative, 3rd person, singular 

number, masculine gender, nominative case, 
agreeing with the verb was forced. 

■was forced* ... Verb, transitive, weak, passive voice, indica- 
tive mood, past tense, 3rd person, singular, 
agreeing with its subject he. Parts : force, 
forced, forced. 

to fly ... Verb, intransitive, weak, infinitive mood, in- 

direct object, after was forced. 

§ 133 Examples of Analysis of Sentences not 
in a Tabular form. 

(See § 131, p. 109.) 

i. Oft at evening close, 

Up yonder hill the village murmur rose. 

Subject the village murmur 

Predicate rose 

Adverbial Adjunct (or Extension 

of Predicate) oft (time) 

at evening close (time) 
up yonder hill (place) 



* The verbs was and forced may be parsed separately as follows : 

%vas .. Verb, intransitive, strong, auxiliary, indicative mood, past 
tense, 3rd person, singular, agreeing with its subject he. 
forced .. Verb, transitive, weak, passive participle of the verb force, 
forming with was a passive past tense. 



XIII.] 



PARSING. 



2. He saw our ship the day before we came to an 
anchor, and did believe we were English. 



Subject 

Predicate 

Object 

Adverbial Adjunct 

[Connective J joining the Adverbial 
sentence, " We came" 6-v., to 
the Principal Sentence} 

Subject 

Predicate 

[Connective ; joining two co-ordi- 
nate sentences} 

Subject 

Predicate 

Object 

[Connective ; joining the Noun 
sentence, " We were English" 
to Principal sentence} 

Subject 

Predicate 



He 

saw 

our ship 

the day, &c. (time) 

before 

we 

came to an anchor 

and 
[He] 

did believe 

(the following sentence) 

[that] 

we 

were English. 



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